Joker

For Cure Joker, see Regina.

Joker (ジョーカー)^?, (called Rascal in Glitter Force) is the secondary antagonist of Smile Pretty Cure! and the main antagonist of its novel. He is the superior of Wolfrun, Majorina, and Akaoni of the Bad End Kingdom.

Bio[]

Appearance[]

Joker appears as the most human compared to his partners, with the exception of his long fingernails and sharp teeth; he wears a white half masque, hiding his eyes which appear as black slots, a white and violet bodysuit with a small violet cape. His hair is styled into the appearance of a traditional jesters hat, and is multicolored blue, red, yellow and violet. In episode 40, when he shows his impatient and angered side, his face became more monster-like, having red eyes and his teeth becoming fangs.

In the Smile Pretty Cure! Novel, Joker obtains a new form called Bad Joker. Since losing his original jester form, he merges his essence with Miyuki's picture book, The Greatest Smile, which acted as a vessel. His appearance is described as a gigantic black book with jagged wings made of pages, a monster that spews evil dark fog everywhere and his size is enormous enough to engulf others in his shadow. Joker's face is described as being reduced to a blackened ugly monster, appearing only whenever he leaps out of the pages themselves.

Personality[]

Vibrant as his clownish appearance, Joker tends to playfully break out in acrobatics and nonsequiturs, but it is clear that his bouncy bearing belies a sadistic love of destruction. He shows great pleasure in defeating and torturing his opponents while shattering their wills as shown when he claims the Smile! Cures in having no chance against Pierrot after beating them, reminding them of their failures after trapping them in the Ball of Neglect, and how he broke Reika's spirit with the guilt of either side of her decision to move to London. As leader of the Bad End Commanders, he orders them every time he appears, hinting at how manipulative he is. He's also very resourceful, as he's always coming up with new plans and tactics to counter the Cures and revive Pierrot.

Etymology[]

Joker is known to be an eccentric genius who has the wits to successfully fool their foes and even their allies with their whimsical actions especially in card games, befitting his cruel, manipulative and unpredictable personality. ^[1]

Rascal is usually a term for describing a mischievous or cheeky person, especially a child or man. It is mostly used affectionately, but in his case it is used to characterize his cruelty and evilness.

History[]

Pre-Series[]

Before the Bad End Kingdom invaded Märchenland, Joker won over a trio of ostracized fairies by exploiting their resentment to serve his master Pierrot as the three commanders to spearhead the attack on their homeland.^SmPC45 Though Pierrot was defeated by Royale Queen, he managed to take the Decors for Joker to use as cores for Akanbe noses. Joker also learned of the existence of the Miracle Jewel, making it his task to find it while entrusting the defeated Pierrot's revival to the commanders.^SmPC06

First Half Of The Series[]

Joker makes his presence known in the series while the three commanders are playing Old Maid, emerging from the "Joker" card that the three are using for the game. Joker then goes on to explain the full Bad End Plan including the fact that they plan to eventually do this to the entire universe starting with Earth.^SmPC06 Joker makes a brief appearance soon after, giving the commanders blue noses to summon Akanbes that are immune to the Pretty Cure's individual basic attacks. It is shown that Joker finds his allies unreliable and bothersome while personally seeking out the Miracle Jewel, though he he observes the Pretty Cure with an interest in Candy since she helped unlock the Cures' Tiara Mode.^SmPC12

Eventually, after reviewing the Wheel of Doom clock as the commanders have nearly amassed enough Bad Energy to revive Pierrot, Joker assumes Candy's strange powers are linked to the Miracle Jewel. Akaoni walks in, deciding to collect more Bad Energy for that day, with Joker cheering him on as he leaves. In the end, Akaoni is beaten once again by the Pretty Cure and leaves in an instant. Before the last Decor needed to revive Queen is inserted, Joker snatches the Decor Décor and Candy with the Cure, and Pop unable to stop him.^SmPC21

As Miyuki and the others head to Märchenland to reach the Bad End Kingdom, Joker interrogates Candy before realizing she knows nothing of the Miracle Jewel and that the Decor Décor is one Decor short. He confronts the Cures in Märchenland, formally introducing himself before he utterly defeats them and takes the Star Decor from them. Seizing the chance, Joker manifests a Dark Zone and discourages the Cures enough for them to emit enough Bad Energy that he extracts to complete Pierrot's revival.^SmPC22

While the five girls are conflicted by the ordeal, they muster the courage to venture into the Bad End Kingdom to save Candy and take back the stolen Decor Décor. There, they are confronted by the three commanders and Joker. Joker tries to stop Happy from going further but is suddenly assaulted by Beauty and Pop, engaging the Pretty Cures in separate duels. Joker is impressed by Beauty's strength and intelligence and initially has the upper hand in the battle, only to be outsmarted by Beauty's and Pop's tactics before being seemingly obliterated by a point-blank Beauty Blizzard.^SmPC23 But Joker survived and retrieved Pierrot's cocoon, reviving the unconscious commanders and entrusting them with summoning Super Akanbes so they amass more Bad Energy to revive their master. He also asks them to search for the Miracle Jewel.^SmPC24

The Black Noses And Trapping The Pretty Cures[]

Later, after warning Akaoni that Pierrot is growing impatient with the commanders' failures^SmPC30, Joker unveils the darkness-coated Akanbe noses that allow the commanders to summon and pilot Hyper Akanbes. He allows Wolfrun to be the first to utilize a Hyper Akanbe, bidding his time until the Cures are at their weakest so he traps Candy in the Ball of Neglect, a pocket dimension designed to create an idealized dream for its occupant, to her from activating the Royale Clock and further empower the Pretty Cure. But Candy comes to her senses upon remembering her friends and breaks free. The sight of the Pretty Cure and Pop badly hurt then causes an upset Candy's power to manifest and activate the Royal Clock, which weakened the Hyper Akanbe enough to be destroyed with a base attack.

But while Wolfrun retreats, Joker then traps all the girls excluding Miyuki in another Ball of Neglect ^SmPC31, taunting Miyuki into following after them while nearly being caught in the dream before Candy also enters to snap her out of it. Miyuki transforms into Cure Happy to destroy the illusion using Happy Shower, but Joker voids the attack and summons a Yellow Nose Akanbe to overpower Cure Happy. Joker laughs at her, claiming that it is useless as hard work and experience will only bring failure and sadness in the end. Cure Happy rebuts him that even though they encounter failure, as long her friends are around, they will work harder than before to overcome everything. Candy comes in to protect Cure Happy from the attack, and their actions touch the clouded hearts of the other four girls, who transform quickly to support Happy in the battle. They combine their powers with Candy and are able to break the realm of illusion. Joker transforms the Yellow Nose Akanbe into a Hyper Akanbe before it is destroyed by Cures' new attack, prompting Joker to retreat and double down on finding the Miracle Jewel.^SmPC32

Fighting Cure Beauty[]

Due to the commanders' ongoing failures and lackluster progress, Joker reveals a more menacing side of himself. He coerces each commander to target a specific Pretty Cure, warning that they will be reverted to their original fairy forms if they fail.^SmPC40 ^SmPC41 ^SmPC42 After the commanders' failure, Joker confronts Reika, who is torn between leaving Japan to study in England. He drags her into a pocket dimension and allows her to transform into Cure Beauty. Although Reika prepares to fight, Joker surprisingly congratulates her, expressing that he would actually prefer her to leave for England, as it would reduce the number of Cures he must defeat.

Joker then summons a Hyper Akanbe and proceeds to undermine Beauty's confidence by suggesting it would be selfish for her to remain in Japan when everyone wants her to go to England. This instills enough internal conflict to cause Reika to cancel her transformation. Just as Joker is about to attack her, her fellow Cures and Candy arrive. Realizing that her friends had been hiding their feelings to spare her guilt, Reika understands that her true path is to stay with her friends and remain a Pretty Cure. She transforms back into Cure Beauty. Enraged, Joker absorbs his Akanbe and engages Beauty in battle. In an attempt to defeat her, he creates multiple copies of himself; however, she sees through the illusion and weakens him with her new attack, Beauty Blizzard Arrow. Joker then uses the Hyper Akanbe as a shield to evade the full force of the Cures' attack before retreating.^SmPC43

The Final Battle[]

When Candy suddenly crystalizes into what he assumes is the Miracle Jewel in reaction to Pierrot's cocoon arriving on Earth, Joker gives the commanders an ultimatum to retrieve her while convincing them to risk everything by using the last Black Nose on themselves to assume Hyper forms. The Cures managed to pacify the commanders, purging the darkness Joker infused them with. But Joker snatches the final Decor before the Cures can use it, taunting the girls by revealing that he took advantage of the fight to amass the Bad Energy needed for Pierrot's second resurrection.

To keep the Cures from meddling in Pierrot's resurrection countdown, Joker combines the commanders' displaced darkness with the Decor to create the Bad End Pretty Cure to hold them off while he attacks Pop to get Candy.^SmPC45 When Pop accuses Joker of seeking the Miracle Jewel for Pierrot, Joker clarifies that his true intention was to destroy the Miracle Jewel. He and Pierrot aim to eliminate anything that offers even a glimmer of hope to others. A hologram of the Queen appears from the Royale Clock to restrain Joker while revealing that Candy is her heir. Upon hearing this, Joker pieces everything together and concludes that the Miracle Jewel never existed. He then shifts his focus to his goal of transforming Earth into a barren desert wasteland.

The Cures defeat their Bad End counterparts and retrieve the last Decor, Joker seems to have a nervous breakdown before laughing as he reveals that he stalled them long enough for Pierrot's resurrection to begin. With Bad End commanders' black ink raining down, Joker starts melting into a puddle of black ink while ecstatic to return to his master's side as a part of him.^SmPC46 But Pierrot is destroyed by the Cures and Candy in an epic final battle, with Joker seemingly destroyed as well.^SmPC48

Joker's Return[]

In the Smile Pretty Cure! Novel, Joker makes his return in series epilogue. Revealed to have survived Pierrot's death, Joker has inherited his master's power and immortality at the cost of being reduced to a blob of black ink from losing his original body. Joker makes it his goal to create a new body and avenge his master, fusing himself into Miyuki's picture book - The Greatest Smile - and biding his time until the Cures bring him to the the Mysterious Library for their meeting with Candy. When the girls prepare themselves for their futures, Joker reveals himself as he blackens Miyauki's book and consumes the library in a miasma of Bad Energy to prevent the girls from escaping through the Book Door while he captures Candy.

Joker then proceeds to torture the girls by having them live out their worst possible futures as adults with no memory of being Pretty Cure, personally invading Reika's illusion to attack her. The Cures eventually snap out of it and regroup in the Mysterious Library to save Candy. In his new Bad Joker form, he takes delight in overpowering the girls. But Joker's victory is short-lived as his attempt to break the Cures with his scenarios has restored their courage and resolve. To his surprise and horror, the Cures and Candy all unlock a special form they use to finally defeat him, and he dissolves into nothingness as he painfully perishes.

Abilities[]

Joker can conjure items. In episode 6, Joker conjured a "Little Earth" as a visual aid during his explanation of the villains' plan. He always seen playing with his cards, which he can enlarge, duplicate, defend with, throw as a weapons, fire purple beams, or capture and teleport his opponents or himself with. In episode 22, he is capable of fighting all the Pretty Cures using offense, defense, and counters, without much effort (include the purification attacks). Joker can also summon a sword and is shown to be skilled sword fighter. He can fire multiple energy blasts with it. As seen in multiple episodes, he's able to create and trap his targets in alternate worlds and dimensions.

Like Wolfrun, Akaoni, and Majorina, he can use a piece of the Black Paint of Darkness, and can darken a blank page of his Picture Book of Darkness (symbolizes the brand new future). This changes the world into a Bad End alternate reality with a purple and black sky. In episode 23, he finally summoned an Akanbe for the first time using the power of all the Cure Decors the Smile Cures have collected so far. It was a Yellow-Nose Akanbe and he is the only commander able to summon them. Not much is known about them except that they are noticeably much more powerful than the other Akanbes. In episode 24, Joker was able to revive the dead commanders. In episode 32, it was revealed he created the Hyper Akanbe noses with the same black paint of the darkness.

In the Smile Pretty Cure! Novel, Joker inherits all the Bad Energy upon Pierrot's demise, effectively granting Joker immortality and an immense power boost.

Trivia[]

Joker shares his name with Regina's Pretty Cure alter ego, Cure Joker, from the Doki Doki! Pretty Cure novel.
In Glitter Force, he shares his voice actor with Akaoni and Wolfrun.
Joker's hair is coloured red, blue, and yellow, each ending with a bauble similar to the Akanbe noses. In episode 32, it is revealed that the baubles in fact, are Akanbe noses. The Cures obtain the Elephant Decor when they defeat this Akanbe made from Joker's yellow bauble.
In episode 16, it is revealed he studied the Cures and made a stack of data about them.
His appearance is probably based off the classic character Harlequin from the play Commedia dell'Arte, given his masked appearance, random constant acrobatics, and close association with Pierrot.