Before I finished Smile, I was already trying to decipher why Toshie Kawamura’s pinks are pretty different from each other. Also, I just finished Hugtto’s crossover movie (it was miles better than Super Stars lol) so here we go!
Technically, Nozomi started the dumb genki pink lead trope even though there was Nagisa and Saki. I mean look after Y5, there was always going to be a pink cure in precure. So, there’s that.
Nozomi, Miyuki and Hana are pretty much the same: Dumb, genki, pink, leader and motivator of the group. They had their own catchphrase too. Yada yada yada they have a lot of similarities.
However, as I think about it furthermore while I’m watching Smile… they’re pretty different from each other too. And I was like ‘well thats interesting’ sooo I finished Smile first before I make this post. Also, they are all great pinks with great character developments.
Going further with their similarities, I think the biggest one that I could think of is how they valued their friends so much. Obviously, precure always emphasizes that, but I think that these three greatly highlights it. Y5 and GoGo always had everyone saying that Nozomi brought the team together. Smile, although it was highlighted with Candy, Miyuki was the one who always showed that she values her friends. Hugtto really showed this with the ending when Saaya and Homare were there for Hana during her birth scene. Obviously, Hugtto’s problem was the team always felt like a 3+2 team, but I do like it really emphasizing on the main trio’s friendship.
Another similarity is them being the “plain” cures who don’t have a set future for them. Nozomi had to figure out what she really wanted to be until the end of Y5, which is to become a teacher. Miyuki loves fairy tales, but she didn’t really have a personal dream until the end with drawing a picture book (and in Smile novel she works at a bookstore). Hana’s future was super vague until the very end, so everyone (including me if I didn’t spoil myself lol) was surprised when she became a CEO of a big company (I think it was beauty cosmetics? Redesigning the town? I don’t remember).
So…establishing a similarity between these three pinks, why are they so different from each other? Well, lemme talk about them individually.
So Nozomi is probably my favorite pink (so far).
I think that she’s the balance of being a dum dum pink and a great leader. Surprisingly, I was never once annoyed by her being such a big glutton nor too lazy to study lol.
What differentiates between her and the other two is probably her high spirits. Of course, she had her down moments, but I guess her not having Miyuki’s shy personality and Hana’s past makes her always positive in life. She was also a person who didn’t get down easily. In episode 24, she didn’t succumb to the Kowainaa mask until her friends grabbed her down with them. So, I’d say she’s pretty strong emotionally and mentally.
She is also the main motivator of the group. I honestly think its not about everyone motivating Nozomi, its about Nozomi motivating everyone. Always always there to give the motivation to her allies. Even though she barely knew about Coco and Syrup when she meets them, she immediately jumped on supporting their dreams (and main plot shenanigans) because she just simply believes in them. She became Urara’s manager for a day and she absolutely killed it I find. She brought her allies back in episode 24 and reaffirmed their friendship. Honestly… I think she’s the centrepiece of the group and rightfully so. For a character-driven series like Y5, it needs to explore the main character’s strengths and weakness and make her get out of the “too plain” zone, and Nozomi did it. And I absolutely find it good that she found a dream that seems impossible because of her grades, but is willing to achieve it because someone inspired her. Ugh gosh yes I love Nozomi/Coco so much lol.
Speaking of them… well there you go another difference is she got herself a romance arc! Now now now yes yes Hana got hers, but she has a controversial and complicated one. Also, arguably it happened off-screen so ANYWAYS. Honestly, I think Nozomi having a romance elevated her character. Haters gonna hate but I think the way Nozomi’s relationship with Coco was really good. There were romantic tensions here and there, but I think what highlights their relationship is their absolute support to each other. There were just so many instances of either Nozomi screaming “I BELIEVE IN COCO AND HE WILL RESTORE THE PALMIER KINGDOM” or Coco screaming “I BELIEVE IN DREAM THE PRECURE WILL DEFEAT YOU” so yes, I hate that they’re hated because of the weird student-teacher/age gap whatever. You gotta look past that to appreciate what the writers developed them. That’s why… Nozomi really gets the power of love later on and especially in the GoGo movie. Since she has someone who inspired her, she decided to become a teacher too (that’s a plus with me because teacher dream yessir). Also, she got to have a love confession. She got the first kiss in precure. She’s powerful.
Now to compare her weakness to the other two…hmm I guess its her being too carefree. I mean you could say this to the other two, but I think Nozomi ups this and became one of the reason why the group fought in Y5 episode 23. There was also her rivalry with Milk, but honestly I find it interesting that she’s the only pink (so far) that was constantly bickering with someone. In Smile, it was Akane and Nao. In Hugtto, it was Saaya and Ruru. Anyways, again I think that her weakness gets to be a catalyst for her character development later on. Idk, I just really find her character to be so good even with her flaws. Hey, flawed characters are better than Mary Sue characters, duh.
But going back to her strengths, can I just say that the way she got Dark Dream redeemed in the Y5 movie was just so good? She literally showed her love and kindness that Dark Dream doesn’t have. Its honestly a shame that Miyuki didn’t do this to Bad End Happy in Smile, but anyways. There was also her moment with Bunbee where she thanked him and specifically said his name. And of course, the moment where she didn’t even flinch when Coco was about to attack her because she believes in him. Honestly, Nozomi in the films made me love her character furthermore. Falling so many times, but never giving up.
Anyways, I’m heavily biased when it comes to Nozomi, but I think she’s a great pink. I’m totally happy that I got her card when I bought the art book!
I’m not gonna lie, Miyuki is probably my “least” favorite out of them three.
I say least in quotes because its not like I hate her or something. She’s a great character bro. Probably I’ll rank her higher than the other pinks in the future lol.
But anyways what also differentiates between her and the other two is that she has a very simple character. I’d say she’s the contrast of Hana’s character even though they are both energetic characters. She’s simple because her character growth revolved around her overcoming her shyness and finding what “ultra happiness” means. Not really complicated and I appreciate that.
Speaking of her shyness, that’s another difference between her and the other two. Yes, she’s very cheerful and everything, but the show constantly showed that she was too shy to make friends (I relate to that lol). Even the movie showed this trait and showed that picture books became Miyuki’s refugee. However, once she made friends, that’s where she got out of her comfort zone. By the end of the series, she’s not as shy as before and had more confidence in herself. Honestly, even though I find her introduction to the class really cheesy and cringe at times (since they had to introduce the other cures), I find that it was the way for her to overcome her weakness right off the bat.
I say that she is a simple character…but also the idealistic character. After all, Smile revolves around fairy tales (even though GoGo did it really) so of course the main character has to be an idealist. Yes yes yes Nozomi and Hana were idealistic, but again, Miyuki really ups this characteristic because she grew up with fairy tale books. She knows Cinderella like the palm of her hand, so she clearly knows her stuff. Not that I’m saying that this is a bad thing, actually this idealist characteristic of hers became her strength and motivation most of the time.
In episode 22, the Smile girls had to make a difficult decision because they wanted to save Candy. I just loved the moment where Miyuki says that its scary, but Candy is our friend, and I want to save my friend. That made me like her character more and also made me realize that she is the leader of the group. Even though I think that she doesn’t feel like a leader a lot of times, I also think that she deserves to be the leader of her group.
In the Smile movie, she got her pink shilling moment. But I honestly loved the moment where she talked to Nico and properly apologized to her. I think that its a great moment and again, another showcase of what being a pink precure means. Also, her Ultra Cure Happy costume looks so beautiful, such a shame it was just there for her to create a flower field and hug the villain. But hey, the hugging moment was really nice too.
Anyways, though Miyuki isn’t really my favorite, I really think what sets her apart from the other two is her idealism and how she showed this throughout the whole series. She gets the gag of getting hit in the face always, but hey she’s always ultra happy no matter what.
Ah, yes. Hana with her iconic bangs.
When I was watching Hugtto, my favorites were Homare and Ruru. After watching the show, I was like “Oh my favorite character? Guess it was Hana all along.” I guess its because I always get attached with the main characters especially in mahou shoujo shows (or probably the purple ones).
Personally, I think Hana is the most complex character out of them three and its really because of her tie in the main plot. Y5 and Smile had simple plot, so it doesn’t really affect the pinks, but freaking Hugtto had to throw in a time travelling plot, so it resulted to convoluted mess by the end.
Anyways… before I talk about that, I think what really differentiates her from the other two is… her past! Yes, her past involved her getting bullied in another school, so she had to move to another to start afresh. This results to her having self-confidence issue. Outside, she’s energetic, cheerful. I mean heck, her introduction was her showcasing her cheerful attitude. Miyuki, on the other hand, was really nervous. So, there’s that. However, this cheerful attitude from Hana kind of serves as a mask for her past issues. Yes, she will always be there for you, support you and everything. But when there are problems, she really REALLY crumbled under pressure.
Episode 10 showed this when she couldn’t transform I don’t remember why now. But it took the encouragement of her mom and friends to get her out of the comfort zone. Episode 24 showed this again after getting betrayed by someone she admired. Again, it took the encouragement of her family and friends to cheer her back. Episode 47 had every cure to sacrifice themselves to give Hana power. Like…its really obvious that this is something that Hana struggled throughout the show.
And that’s not it, even the movies showed this lol. In Super Stars, it took Ichika and Mirai’s encouragement to get her back on feet (they are her senpais after all). Although her breakdown in All Stars Memories is painful, I think it was rational for her to feel that. Also, I liked that scene because it shows that precures are also young girls who just can’t be strong every time. Thanks for pointing it out Nagisa!
Anyways… I say all of this to say that this weakness of hers became her greatest catalyst to grow as a character. I find that episode 11 and 48 really showed it. Especially when she rejected the precure sword (though I’m still kinda salty that she chose a stick rather than a cool sword lol) because hugs are powerful. Hugs will save the world! Hugs will cure someone’s pain. Hana is the hugging goddess. I don’t remember what episode is that now, but I think the episode when Hana met her classmate from her old school also showed that she is willing to move on and forgive. She literally forgave everyone in the show including ALL villains. Plus the movie villains. Its a part of her.
Speaking of encouragement, another distinction that I find is her support to everyone. After all, Hugtto is about cheering for everyone, becoming who you want to be, stuff like that. Obviously, Hana ups this characteristic, BUT I also find that she is the one who needs to get supported in crucial times. Again, this ties back to her past issues, but yeah I find it interesting that she has to be supported in order to stand stronger.
Her tie to the main plot…is so so different than the other precure shows I’ve watched so far. Yes, you have Smile movie about Miyuki, but that’s the movie.
Anyways, I just find it…really interesting that Hana is like…the main catalyst of the story? In Smile, its Candy and in GoGo its Syrup (I think) but in Hugtto? Its Hana. Literally, the plot would not happen if she didn’t “die” in the future. So basically, if she cut her hair before, she wouldn’t be in such mess lol. But this isn’t really obvious until the last 4 episodes of the show. So, the main plot is always about “bad guys came from the future and they’re trying to freeze the present because future sucks” and not about “bad guys came from the future and they’re trying to freeze the present because everyone dies including the MC in the future so the future sucks” kind of like that. I swear time travelling can either be good or hot garbage lol. Hugtto chooses to be both.
Furthermore, she’s actually connected to the main mascot but is it really surprising? Not really lol. I guess it made sense that her endgame was going to be her becoming a mom and she was actually taking care of her future kiddo all along. But not only she’s connected to the cutesy mascot, she’s actually connected to the big bad. Like, even Nozomi and Miyuki didn’t reach that level lol. It just shows that Hana is actually very important to the plot. For others, its a good thing, but for others its not since she had her own arc in the show. And I do agree that her importance to the plot doesn’t affect her character because she knew nothing all about what happened to her in the future. I do think, however, this makes her character more complex because its pretty interesting. Too bad they didn’t explore this further because they can’t spoil the finale lol. And its controversial because everyone in Toei likes age-gap romance for some reason. Like please, I wanted to see more of Hana’s no-bangs appearance!
And since I talked about her endgame…I know Nozomi/Coco is canon and IS canon to my heart. But Hana? She became CEO of a huge company, has two great friends, gets married and gets a beautiful baby girl. Like wew. No other cure achieved that besides her. Yes yes yes every precure that showed timeskip had everyone be successful in their lives, but I don’t think anyone will reach Hana’s achievement for a long time (technically Mana did but pfffft it should happen in series proper, not in the film). But I will always wonder what I really feel about you-know-who because its really complicated and freaking not explored properly, but anyways can’t deny who is Hana married with rofl. I’m really proud of my mecchoku girl.
Anyways, yes I talked so much about Hana because I just find her character really fascinating for so many reasons. She’s obviously a top favorite of mine (probably behind Nozomi) and I even based my 7th chosen one shenanigans on her. Also, always associating yellow flowers with her now lol. She got to be the Hana Nono that she wanted to be.
Overall, I’m a bit sad Hana only got to interact with Nozomi during the crossover episodes. They should’ve brought in Miyuki too smh. Anyways, I really wanted to make a post about them ever for weeks now and phew lol we’re here. Yes, they are pretty much the same standard mahou shoujo pinks, but I think they are all unique on their own and they have amazing character developments. They are all great Kawamura pinks!
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