Gaou

Gaou (ガオウ)^? is a Japanese Wolf, and the main antagonist of Wonderful Pretty Cure!. He was once the leader of a pack of wolves, and currently leads Gaou-tachi.

It was later revealed that his real name and identity is a human named Subaru (スバル, Subaru)^?, who wants to take revenge on humans who have killed his wolf friends.

Bio[]

Appearance[]

Gaou is a Japanese Wolf with Maya blue fur and soft cyan accents. He has a flame-like tail, red inner ears, a dark navy blue nose, turquoise eyes covered with a white mask with blue markings, cyan markings on the back of his scalp, and turquoise claws. He wears a light black hakama with red and yellow collars, matched with a jet black robe, tied by a black strap and yellow and cyan knots. His boots are black with dark blue markings. He carries a pale blue orb with a red flame, which contains a shard of the Niko Diamond.

During his initial appearances, he was seen as a shadowy cloaked wolf with red eyes.

As Subaru, he has spiky black hair, and brown eyes. When fusing himself completely with the former Gaou's powers, he gains blue streaks on his hair and face, and his eyes turn blue.

Subaru would later temporarily gain a wolf form after absorbing a Niko Diamond. In this form, he is a dark grey furred wolf who also has a white fured head with red markings, and cyan eyes. His ribs are yellow, he wears a blue belt, and the Niko Diamond shard is on the center of his chest. He also has spikes on his back.

As a wolf when he's overwhelmed by excessive Nikoniko Power, Subaru has dark black fur, with ruffled grey manes, blue face markings, and turquoise claws. He also has blue eyes in this form.

In the past, Subaru used to wear blue hakama and pants, black arm bands, and black boots.

Personality[]

Gaou hates humans for making his wolf pack go extinct, and plots to destroy the human world. Like his fellow wolves, he is self-righteous and stubborn. Gaou has a kind side whenever he's not angered, but he loses trust easily once he learns that an animal is good friends with humans. His anger is fueled by vengeance against humanity.

When he was a normal human, Subaru was a brave and kind young man who tried to protect the wolves at all costs. However, because his wolf friends all died at the hands of the villagers, Subaru lost all trust in humans and decided to avenge his deceased friends. It is later revealed that Subaru has been unable to forgive himself regarding his wolf friends' deaths, hence being trapped by his grief and unable to move on. However, he is finally able to forgive himself and ascend to the afterlife, after making amends with Gaou.

Relationships[]

Torame and Zakuro: His companions, who he deeply trusts and cares about. He sends both of them out to summon Gaogaons and destroy the human world on his behalf.
Niko: Gaou has a hostile and complicated relationship with Niko, finding her foolish to trust humans, and refuses to listen to any of her advice.
Inukai Komugi: Initially, Gaou/Subaru was interested in Komugi, even taking her to the town's river after she fainted. However, he loses trust in her when he realizes she's friends with humans, and even briefly turns her into a Gaogaon. He also believes Komugi is foolish and brainwashed by humans, meaning she won't be able to understand his feelings. When Komugi got hurt from protecting Iroha from a phantom wolf, Subaru is overwhelmed with guilt as it makes him recall the tragedy that happened to Gaou. Whilst inside the giant egg, Komugi expresses to Subaru that she understands how he feels when he wanted to talk to Gaou as she feels the same about Iroha, and Subaru finally comes to trust Komugi in the end.
Gaou: The wolf that Subaru had the strongest bond with. Gaou's demise was one of the biggest motives behind Subaru's wrath against humanity, and his sole wish was to bring Gaou back to life. After finally being able to talk things out with Gaou, both Subaru and Gaou ascend to the afterlife.

Etymology[]

Gaou is based on the sound "Gao" (ガオー, "Gao")^?, which is Japanese for "roar".^[1] The "-ou" itself may derive from 王 which means "king",^[2] which fits his status as the boss of Gaou-tachi. However it is actually his alias as Subaru chose this name after his deceased pet wolf to seek revenge against humanity.

Subaru stands for the Pleiades star cluster. In Western culture, the Pleiades are associated with sorrow, mirroring his regret and agony of losing his pet wolves. It is also a masculine name that means "united" in Japanese.^[3] This is related to how Subaru himself is very close with his wolf pack, who are pack animals.

History[]

Past[]

Long ago, Gaou was a leader of a Japanese wolf pack living in the forests of Animal Town. However, he and his pack were eventually driven out of their territory, and went extinct. This made Gaou determined to take revenge on humans.^WPC29

It is later revealed that Gaou once had a human friend named Subaru 150 years ago, having lived in Mount Toboe during the time. At first, Gaou and his pack developed a strong trust towards Subaru, after Subaru had helped Gaou in his injuries and eventually got to see Gaou's said pack, thus harboring a deep friendship for one another.^WPC41 But Gaou and his companions were forced to leave even after Subaru tried convincing the villagers that wolves weren't dangerous.^WPC43

Subaru lost the real Gaou and the other wolves at the hands of cruel humans who destroyed his wolf friends' habitat, and killed all of them. In fact, he had been deeply traumatized after Gaou sacrificed his life to protect him, when some of the villagers were planning to shoot him from behind.^WPC49 Devastated by his friends' deaths, and angered by the villagers' cruelty, Subaru grew to resent his fellow humans. He later fell into a deep slumber as a vengeful spirit for many centuries. Upon waking up, he was enraged by how Animal Town was still being lively without any care. He then fused himself with a wolf fang and took on the wolf leader's name to plan his revenge with the help of the deceased wolves, while using the Toboe Shrine as his base.^WPC48

Orchestrating The Garugaru Attacks[]

Eventually, Gaou spreads his dark force into Niko Garden, turning the Niko Animals, the Kirarin Animals and Mey Mey into Garugaru.^WPC01 Niko attempts to counter Gaou's dark influence by turning the harmed Niko Animals into eggs, but Gaou's powers are still able to turn the eggs black.^WPC29 He then stole a piece of the Niko Diamond and stained it with his anger.^WPC39

When the Lion Garugaru is resting inside a cave deep in the mountains, Gaou appears to order the resting Lion to wake up and bear its fangs to start attacking again. ^WPC07 When the Bear Garugaru is resting deep in the forest somewhere in Mount Miharashi, Gaou appears and forces the Bear to awaken and start the attack once again. ^WPC11 When the Hamster Garugaru is hiding underground, Gaou appears again and tells the Hamster to let its rage burn. He also gives the Hamster a new ability to shrink his opponents and commands it to take revenge on those who hurt him.^WPC19

Reviving His Companions[]

Due to feeling the power of the light, Gaou senses that he can hear humans laughing. Frustrated, Gaou questions what happened to the black beasts he had unleashed. Gaou declares that his anger will never fade, no matter how much time passes. Gaou then awakens Zakuro and Torame, who he orders to find the black beasts he released, and the people running rampant in Animal Town. Some time later, he howls to signal to the duo that they must return.^WPC29

Meeting Komugi And Confronting Niko[]

During Halloween, Gaou wakes up to observe the humans and animals in Animal Town. He meets Komugi, who tries befriending him. When Komugi faints, he takes her to the town's river so she can drink water. Gaou initially starts to open up to Komugi but immediately dislikes her once he learns that she is friends with humans. He strikes Komugi with his powers, briefly turning her into a Gaogaon until she breaks free, which strains his body. He also reveals to Niko that he has taken a shard of Niko Garden's Niko Diamond to power his orb. Although being told by Niko that he shouldn't use his anger to involve innocent animals in his revenge, Gaou refuses to listen to her and tells Niko and the Cures that he will destroy the human world as he leaves.^WPC39

Enacting His Revenge And Revealing His Identity[]

On New Years, Gaou finally starts acting on his plan of revenge by sending out hordes of wolf Gaogaons.^WPC47 As Gaou continues attacking the townspeople and their animals, he refuses to listen to Niko's explanation about how humans have changed. He then steals Niko's powers, but Niko tries to stop him by using the last of her powers. As a result, his mask is destroyed, revealing his identity as the human Subaru. Despite the Cures and Zakuro's efforts to stop him, Subaru overpowers them with the power he has stolen from Niko, and alters Animal Town to become a forest. He tells his deceased wolf friend that he has brought the forest back, and howls at the sky.^WPC48

The Final Battle And Purification[]

After bringing the forest back, Subaru attempts to revive his deceased friend Gaou. However, he is shocked and agitated to realize that nothing can bring his late friend back, despite combining Niko's powers with the Mirror Stone. Enraged, he shatters the Mirror Stone into fragments, and absorbs a giant shard of the Niko Diamond to transform himself into a giant wolf. However, he begins to regret his decision when the way he hurts Cure Wonderful is similar to how the real Gaou died, and so he starts crying and losing control of his powers. In the end, Wonderful and the other Cures finally get through to Subaru, who is purified by Eternal Kizuna Shower, and gets to see Gaou's spirit again.^WPC49

At first, Subaru still blames himself for being unable to protect Gaou. To his surprise, Gaou has forgiven him, and that his friendship has made the wolf happy. Encouraged to talk his feelings out by Wonderful and the other Cures, Subaru finally admits how he feels about Gaou, and joins the wolf pack into the afterlife.^WPC50

Abilities[]

Empowerment: Gaou can empower the Garugarus, as seen when he empowers the Hamster Garugaru, granting it the ability to shrink others in addition to itself.
Summoning Garugarus and Gaogaons: Like his subordinates, Gaou has the power to summon Gaogaons by striking his target with a lightning via his flame orb. He is also able to create Garugarus with his darkness, by forcibly turning them into black beasts. He can also summon them by hatching the egg-shaped stones found in front of the shrine.
Power Disabling: With his flame orb, Gaou can disable the Cures' transformation items by staining them with darkness.
Teleportation: Gaou can teleport himself to different locations using the flame from his orb.
Soul Summoning: Gaou can use his orb to summon his companions' fallen souls, such as Torame and Zakuro's.

Trivia[]

Subaru is the first main antagonist whose alias is also a namesake after their loved ones. In this case, his alter ego "Gaou" is named after his wolf companion, who was killed by the hunters.
Before his name was revealed in episode 29, Gaou was credited as ??? in the ending credits.
Subaru used to communicate with his wolf friends through howling.^WPC49