Over the past few episodes, big things have happened in Heartcatch Precure. During this time, the show has made some references to past Pretty Cure series, and here’s a couple I’ve spotted.
Again, this is towards the end of the first half of the series, so there are spoiler-worthy things happening. I’d highly recommend you go watch the show before you read any further.
In episode 21, new fairy mascot creature Potpourri asks a number of characters if they could be the third Cure to go alongside Blossom and Marine, with one of the candidates being female soccer player Sayaka. When Sayaka mentions that her only skill is soccer, Potpourri assures her that in the past there have been Precure who were also good at soccer.
This refers to Natsuki Rin, aka Cure Rouge, the third in a line of Cures who are good at Sports (Cure Black = Lacrosse, Cure Bloom = Softball).
The bigger event of course is when Myoudouin Itsuki transforms into Cure Sunshine. Unlike Blossom and Marine who use “Heart Perfumes,” Sunshine uses a “Shiny Perfume.”
This is in reference to the character Kujou Hikari, aka Shiny Luminous, who was first introduced in Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart.
Further supporting this is the fact that the powers of Cure Sunshine are mainly defensive in nature, which was also the role Shiny Luminous provided to the original Pretty Cure girls.
However, the big difference here is that while Luminous never shed her protective role on the team, Itsuki comes into the team as the only trained martial artist to become a Cure, which means she balances her barriers with actual physical combat experience.
So that was just a small observation. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations on watching an excellent show and may I hope to see you once the series is over.
OGIUE MANIAX 
Another interesting bit of “self-reference” are the casting choices for Cure Moonlight and Sunshine, Hisakawa Aya and Kuwashima Houko. This is clearly a homage to earlier fighting mahou shojo series. They are famous and well-respected veteran seiyuu, but based on age alone (born 1963 and 1975), they would not normally be considered for these roles, even if they are perfectly capable of voicing them. Hisakawa, of course, was Sailor Mercury in the original Sailor Moon series, and Kuwashima was Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. There are also some pretty clear plot references not only to earlier Precure series, but also to even earlier mahou shojo series (e.g. the mysterious “Tuxedo Megane” imported directly from Sailor Moon). I only wonder why they didn’t cast Mitsuishi Kotono as Cure Moonlight – she wasn’t available? Takayama Minami (Kiki) as Dark Precure is also in keeping with this kind of homage-casting, at least generation-wise.
LikeLike
The best part of Cure Sunshine is that she’s the first convincingly strong yellow Cure. It tends to be that the yellow Cure is a gimmick that relies on her powers too much and/or is physically weak and never does too much.
LikeLike
It’s not the first reference to other Precure series, Momoko’s appearance and her work as a “charisma model” reminds us immediately of Miki from Fresh. Chypre and Coffret meeting with Tsubomi was after they crashed on her face, like Mepple did with Nagisa, and so on… Fresh also had its fair share of reference to older precure/magical girls/toei shows, I hope they will continue this way with Heartcatch and the other Pretty Cure titles to come.
>Cure Sunshine is […] the first convincingly strong yellow Cure.
Cure Bright anyone ?
LikeLike
Cure Bright doesn’t count because that’s a new transformation for the most part, not a different person.
LikeLike