Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure
Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure is a Japanese magical girl anime television series produced by Toei Animation. It is the eighteenth installment in the Pretty Cure franchise, and is directed by Yutaka Tsuchida and written by Masahiro Yokotani. The series premiered on ANN on February 28, 2021, succeeding Healin' Good Pretty Cure's time slot. It was succeeded by Delicious Party Pretty Cure on February 6, 2022.
The show's themes are motivation and responsibility, both of which are emphasized in reference to its protagonists creating and forming the Tropical Club, as well as one's ability to take accountability for their actions. While not directly stated, another theme is dance, the third series to feature it after Fresh Pretty Cure! and HappinessCharge PreCure!. The Cures excel at several dance styles and incorporate them into their fighting and attacks, and it contains the series' first dance-focused opening. The Cures' main motifs are mermaids, tropical and ocean themes, and cosmetics.
Story
Manatsu Natsuumi is a 13-year-old first-year middle school student who moved to Aozora City from Minamino Island to be with her mother. Upon her arrival on the mainland, she begins her new life there and her first semester in middle school. But one day, she meets Laura, a mermaid from a mystical place called Grand Ocean, the land of mermaids. She has been searching for the legendary warriors of the Grand Ocean who can fight against the Witch of Delays, an entity from the bottom of the ocean that attacked the nation and deprived its inhabitants of their Motivation Power. Although Laura is searching for the legendary warriors because the Mermaid Queen tasked her with doing so, she is doing it out of her selfish desire to be queen one day. But when one of the witch's minions attacks Aozora City, Manatsu is blessed with the powers of the sea that allows her to become Cure Summer, one of the legendary warriors foretold in Grand Ocean's legends.Manatsu is later joined by Sango Suzumura, Minori Ichinose, Asuka Takizawa and Laura. They form the Tropical-Rouge Pretty Cure team to fend off against the forces of the Witch of Delays and restore the Grand Ocean to its former splendor.
Characters
Pretty Cures
;Manatsu Natsuumi Cure Summer;Sango Suzumura Cure Coral
;Minori Ichinose Cure Papaya
;Asuka Takizawa Cure Flamingo
;Laura Cure La Mer
Grand Ocean
Grand Ocean is the home of Laura and Kururun, which is ruled by the Mermaid Queen.;Kururun
;Mermaid Queen
The Witches of Procrastination
The Witches of Procrastination are the main villains of the series, and are the group made up by the Witch of Delays and her marine subjects, who seek to end the motivation of the mermaids of the Great Ocean and the humans by absorbing Motivation Power from them.Leaders
;Butler;The Witch of Delays
Generals
Minions of the Witch of Delays under Butler's leadership, each based on a marine species. They can throw orbs at objects to create Yaraneedas/Zenzen Yaraneedas/Zettai Yaraneedas/Super Zettai Yaraneedas that steal peoples' Motivation Power, leaving them unmotivated and lethargic. Each general rides a boat when they attack Aozora City.;Chongire
;Numeri
;Elda
Monsters
;Yaraneeda;Kowasunda
Cures' family members
;Taiyo Natsuumi;Aoi Natsuumi
;Miyuki Suzumura
;Narumi Ichinose
;Hareruya Takizawa
Aozora Middle School
;Saki Sakuragawa;Yuriko Shiratori
;Kiriko Shiraishi, Naomi Komachi, Yumi Kuwano
;Masami Kakuta
;Izumi Komori, Yukie Hayashida
;Eiko Mizushima
;Shiori Nakagawa
;Rika Ichijo
Others
;Mafune Hirabayashi;Yuna Yamabe
;Haruna Takatsuki, Nao Tomono, Akiho Kirishima & Mifuyu Harada
;Wataru & Ruri
;Tomi
;Yosuke, Santa & Hina
;Panther
;Aunete Cure Oasis
;Connie
;Yui Nagomi Cure Precious
;Kome-Kome
Movie Characters
;Sharon;Huang
;Snow Monsters
Development
On November 27, 2020, Toei trademarked the name for the new series that would be released for the 2021 season. On December 1, 2020, the series title was officially unveiled on Toei's official website. Toei later revealed the designs of the main characters as well as both the series' director and writer on December 26, 2020. The series' overall motif was a first in the franchise, and the first time its setting was tied to the main character of the series.Producer Aki Murase spoke on the series' main theme: "What is the most important thing right now?" is a mysterious question that you can't answer well when you grow up. Maybe it's because I learned about tomorrow and learned the technique of postponing it... But how was it when you were a kid? I think that children always have the "invincible motivation power" that no one can take away from the "most important thing" in front of them. Manatsu, the main character of this work, also has "invincible motivation" to decide "the most important thing now" and take action. I want you to find more "the most important things now" through Manatsu, who has a similar feeling as those children, and to support that! I hope that Pretty Cure will lead to children's "I want to try it!", so I incorporated two longing motifs: the sea and cosmetics."
Media
Anime
Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure began airing on all ANN stations in Japan on February 28, 2021, succeeding Healin' Good Pretty Cure in its initial time slot. Crunchyroll streamed the series with original Japanese audio and English subtitles. A week before the series premiere, Cure Summer appeared in the last episode of Healin’ Good Pretty Cure as a cameo and did a baton pass with Cure Grace at the end of the episode.Films
A short film, titled Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure the Movie: Petite Dive! Collaboration Dance Party!, was released on March 20, 2021 alongside Healin' Good Pretty Cure the Movie: GoGo! Big Transformation! The Town of Dreams. On October 23, 2021, the film Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure the Movie: The Snow Princess and the Miraculous Ring! was released, with the cast of HeartCatch PreCure! making an appearance.Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure the Movie: Dreaming♡Children's Lunch!, including animated short titled My Precious Lunch, was released in Japanese movie theaters on September 23, 2022.
Manga
The manga spinoff of the series is written and illustrated by author duo Futago Kamikita and began serialization in Kodansha's shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi from March 2021 to February 2022.Music
Shiho Terada returns to compose the music from Healin' Good Pretty Cure.Openings
Endings
| Song | Artist | Episodes |
| "Tropica I・N・G" | Chihaya Yoshitake | 1 - 3, 6 - 16 |
| "Everybody☆Healin' Good Day!" & "Tropical I・N・G" Ending Relay | Kanako Miyamoto & Chihaya Yoshitake | 4 - 5 |
| "Aiming to Go My Way!!" | Chihaya Yoshitake & Rie Kitagawa | 17 - 32, 37 - 46 |
| "Shantia ~Land of Happiness~" | Fairouz Ai, Yumiri Hanamori, Yui Ishikawa, Asami Seto, Rina Hidaka, Nana Mizuki, Fumie Mizusawa, Houko Kuwashima, Aya Hisakawa | 33 - 36 |