Kururun

Kururun (くるるん)^? is a seal-like fairy from Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure. They're from Grand Ocean, and are the former Mermaid Queen and Laura's pet. Their cry is "kururun!" (くるるん～！)^?

Bio

Appearance

Kururun is a sea fairy that looks like a pinkish white seal with a peach-colored tail and pink heart shaped ears. Their eyes are blue with cyan heart shaped accents.

Personality

Kururun is a seal-like fairy who goes at their own pace, and isn't very smart.

Relationships

Laura: Their caretaker, and they are good friends, though sometimes Laura has trouble understanding them. They later become her pet after she inherits the throne.
Ichinose Minori: Kururun is the closest to Minori out of the Cures. She is also the only one that is able to understand their speech.
Mermaid Queen: Their owner, who they have a close relationship with.

Etymology

Kururun (くるるん, Kururun)^? is based on the word Kurukuru (くるくる, Kurukuru)^? which means "round and round".

History

Kururun is requested by the Mermaid Queen to deliver an important item to Laura, but they lose it on the way and they end up getting washed up on the beach. They meet the girls, who volunteer to help them retrieve the item. After the item, which turns out to be some sweets from the Queen, is found, Kururun decides to stay with them. ^TRPC07

When the Disciplinary Committee inspects the Tropical Club's room, Kururun and Laura hide behind the board to prevent themselves from getting noticed. After the Mermaid Aqua Pot gets confiscated by Kakuta Masami, Kururun accompanies Laura to retrieve it. Kururun, who is riding on a skateboard, is later spotted by Masami, but Kururun is hidden by the bushes when the girls and the rest of the Disciplinary Committee try to see what Masami saw, so nobody believes that Masami had seen a seal on a skateboard.^TRPC12

When Laura is locked up in the Witch of Delays' mansion's dungeon, she finds and reunites with Kururun. Kururun then tries to help Laura by getting the keys, but accidentally exposes themselves to Elda who holds them captive, until Laura frees them. They later rescue Laura after Butler attacks her and is glad that she is safe.^TRPC17

After Manatsu shows off the Premium Melon Bread she won, Kururun notices that she has left it behind, so they decide to help Manatsu put it into the Mermaid Aqua Pot's fridge. However, they end up making Laura eat the bread without checking. Kururun later explains and apologizes via their gestures, but the girls forgive them anyway.^TRPC20

When the school press visit the Tropical Club, Kururun accidentally makes a sound, which nearly exposes them, until the girls pretend they're a talking stuffed animal, and Manatsu tells them they can't move. They soon take Manatsu's warning seriously and decide to not move, until a Chou Zettai Yaraneeda almost attacks them. Fortunately, Summer rescues Kururun after realizing she left them behind, until they both get knocked out by one of the Chou Zettai Yaraneeda. Kururun later decides to find the rest of the girls, only for Papaya to mistake them as an enemy and shoot them by accident. After they explain what happened, they stay in the Mermaid Aqua Pot for the rest of the battle.^TRPC29

Knowing that Asuka is going on her graduation trip, Kururun and Laura sneak into Asuka's bag, which shocks and angers Asuka when she finds out. After Laura leaves with the three other girls, Kururun is left behind and is confused when Asuka reacts in a frustrated way.^TRPC31

When the Cures once again have to face a Chou Zettai Yaraneeda, Kururun gains the ability to transform into "Cure Kururun". However, it was just a dream and Kururun woke up quite sad about it. ^TRPC33

When Elda is all alone in the human world, Kururun notices her and decides to offer a seashell cookie to cheer her up. However, Elda denies her loneliness and rudely rejects Kururun, leaving them behind.^TRPC34

When Kururun and the Cures seemingly receive an invitation from the Mermaid Queen, they join the Cures to visit Grand Ocean. However, Kururun notices something is wrong when they didn't get pats from the Queen. Their suspicion is soon confirmed when they are exploring the dark parts of Grand Ocean, after discovering the room where the Queen is trapped. They later return to expose Numeri for impersonating the Queen by making her dizzy, but gets washed away with the Cures after Grand Ocean's barrier is broken.^TRPC36

After Manatsu is consumed by the Whale Yaraneeda, the other girls decide to leave Kururun behind by distracting them with some seashell cookies, so they won’t tag along and endanger themselves. ^TRPC43 They later begin to worry when they see the darkened sky, realizing that the world is in danger.^TRPC44

Throughout the entire final battle, Kururun stays on land, and hides in the shell container the Cures left behind for them. After the battle is over, Kururun comes out of hiding, and unintentionally meets Natsuumi Aoi and Hirabayashi Mafune. They then sleep inside the Mermaid Aqua Pot when the Cures have a slumber party in the club room before the graduation festival. ^TRPC45

After the graduation festival, Kururun returns to the ocean with Laura and loses their memories. They also automatically become her pet after Laura inherits the throne. But they later regain their memories after the Mermaid Aqua Pot overloads the memory erasing machine. They are last seen reuniting with their friends in Aozora City.^TRPC46

Cure Kururun

Kururun Kururun! Kuru Kururun!
くるるんくるるん！くるくるるん！
Kururun Kururun! Kuru Kururun!

Cure Kururun (くるくるるん, Cure Kururun)^? is Kururun's Pretty Cure alias. In order to transform, they need Cure Summer's Tropical Pact and Heart Kuru Ring. Cure Kururun has no special abilities as the alias only appeared in Kururun's dream in episode 33.

Transformation

The transformation begins with Kururun coming out of the Mermaid Aqua Pot and tapping the Tropical Pact. They then apply make-up similar to how the Cures do it, saying "Kururun" in place of the parts they shout (cheeks, eyes, etc.). First, their whiskers grow up, then the heart flecks in their eyes turn pink, their ears grow longer with magenta and turquoise hearts on top of the pink, and lipstick is applied to their mouth. Then their tail grows longer, gloves appear on their flippers, an inner tube appears around their waist, and a collar appears on top. After swimming around, they say their introduction phrase before striking a final pose, though it is also just them saying their name.

Trivia

Kururun's birthday is on September 6^th. Therefore, their zodiac sign is Virgo.
- Nakatani Yukiko revealed in a tweet that she chose Kururun's birthday by a wordplay. Kururun's name has the same first word as "kugatsu" (九月, "kugatsu")^?, which made their birth-month September. Kururun's name is based on a word means "spinning", and the numbers 9 and 6 being the inverse of each other, made their birth-date the 6^th.^[1]
Kururun loves Seashell Cookies.
- Their favorite kind of seashell cookies are the ones made from the Bubble Flowers of Grand Ocean.
In the Animage January 2022 issue, it was revealed that their voice actor, Tanaka Aimi initially auditioned for Cure Summer, but after she was offered Kururun, and as soon as she saw them, she exclaimed how she absolutely wanted to voice them, due to her love for sea creatures.
- Tsuchida Yutaka originally doubted whether Kururun was necessary as Laura was the one performing the typical "fairy" duties, until one of the staff members brought a seal plushie during a meeting, which managed to convince him to keep Kururun.