Chanbara Pretty Cure
The third Pretty Cure Elsewhere Fic by the author of Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy and Bokura wa Gaia Pretty Cure. This particular entry is strongly influenced by Tokusatsu, in particular Samurai Sentai Shinkenger.
When the generals of Hellswish are revived and begin to attack a parallel dimension known as the Edo Garden, the realm's princess Izanami takes arms to fight them, but is fatally wounded in the process, leading her soul to become encased inside a doll and sent her to our world, known to those of Edo Garden as the Continuous Time Garden. She lands in the flooded town of Suito (or "the Japanese Venice" as it's often nicknamed), where she gathers the following girls and makes them her vassals, the Chanbara Pretty Cures:
- Omiya Fuyujima (Winter Vassal Cure Tsurara): An introverted girl who is thought by many to be a rebellious "Ice Queen". Fittingly enough, when transformed she has powers over ice.
- Uzura Akizuki (Autumn Vassal Cure Kabocha): The laid-back president of Jidai Private Academy's birdwatching club, as well as a closet exteme sports fangirl. When transformed she has powers over earth.
- Manami Natsumoto (Summer Vassal Cure Nikkou): An energetic and athletic Tokusatsu fangyaru with Super Strength. When transformed she has powers over fire and heat.
- Renge Haruzono (Spring Vassal Cure Yanagi): The Tagalong Loli and Little Miss Fix-It of the team, as well as a Cute and Psycho Covert Pervert. When transformed she has powers over nature.
Together, these four misfits have the duty to protect Izanami from the generals of Hellswish and gather the 50 Ribbons of Life, or die trying.
Tropes used in Chanbara Pretty Cure include:
- Alpha Bitch -- Emiri... Pardon, "News Queen Emily".
- Alternate Continuity
- Blood Knight -- Wakana Nozama. It turns out to be a Jerkass Facade.
- By the Power of Greyskull -- Unusually straying away from the flowery Gratuitous English phrases commonly used by the canon Pretty Cure, all the members of this particular team have to say to transform is "Henshin!", followed by writing the characters for "henshin" on thin air with their Fudekans.
- Darkskinned Blonde -- Manami, of course. Unlike most gyarus she tans naturally rather than artificially.
- Deal with the Devil -- How Rafficaze became a Hellswish general.
- Development Gag -- Suito was the original idea for the setting of Kamen Rider Double, discarded for being too budget-consuming. Bia liked the idea so she incorporated it into Chanbara, as the story's parallel to the Sanzu River in Shinkenger.
- Four-Girl Ensemble -- Omiya the faux-Ice Queen, Uzura the Team Mom, Manami the Genki Girl, and Renge the Gadgeteer Genius.
- Gratuitous English -- Emiri/"News Queen Emily" uses this a lot more than the Cures, surprisingly. In a situation similar to that of Izumi from Digimon Frontier, Emiri's family moved to the USA and raised her there until one year prior to the beginning of the season.
- Hey, It's That Voice!
- Omiya is Mio Akiyama in Japanese and Rue in English (doubles as Pigeonholed Voice Actor).
- Uzura is Miku Hatsune in Japanese and Pinkie Pie/Fluttershy in English.
- Manami is Marie Mjolnir in Japanese and Clawdeen Wolf/Cleo De Nile in English.
- Renge is Pepe in Japanese and Starfire in English.
- Princess Izanami is Ai Enma in Japanese and Cinderella in English.
- In the Name of the Moon -- Again, an unusual departure from Pretty Cure tradition, in particular the most recent series, as the roll call has no unique quote for each Cure. All they say are their titles and names.
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Cure Tsurara: Winter Vassal. Cure Tsurara. |
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- Japanese School Club -- Jidai Private Academy has tons. Notably, Uzura is Club President for the Birdwatching Club, as is Emiri for the Newspaper Club (which Renge is part of). Other clubs that are mentioned throughout the story are the Ice Cream Club, the Prankster Club, the Dollmaker Club, the Roller Derby Club, and the various music clubs, including Visual Kei, J-Pop, and of course, light music.
- Katanas Are Just Better -- The Cures' weapons.
- Lonely Doll Girl -- All members of the Dollmaker Club.
- Magical Foreign Words -- Mostly averted, as all the Cures' names, weapons and attacks are in Japanese, with "Pretty Cure" as the only actual Gratuitous English.
- Meganekko -- Uzura
- Motif -- Japanese culture, both ancient [1] and modern [2], as well as Seasonal Baggage (a motif shared with Pretty Cure Full Color and Cardinal Pretty Cure).
- Nonuniform Uniform -- Not a hybrid uniform this time. Manami's uniform has a white blouse with a black collar (instead of the standard sea green blouse and white collar) as well as a multicolored skirt with various Tokusatsu keychains hanging from it.
- One-Gender School -- Jidai Private Academy, an all-girl school, which neighbors the all-boy school Ronin Private Academy.
- On Ice -- Used to hell and back by Cure Tsurara, who can turn any liquid she touches into ice, thus often applies this to the waters of Suito. She's mostly influenced by her mother Yukiho, who used to be a professional ice skater and retired after her marriage.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette - Omiya
- Plucky Girl -- Izanami, which is rather unusual due to her being a Yamato Nadeshiko.
- Portmanteau -- The Hellswish generals' names.
- Satakuma = Satan + Akuma ("demon")
- Rafficaze = Raffica ("gust" in Italian) + kaze ("wind")
- Razor Wind -- Part of Rafficaze's wind powers.
- Regular Caller -- Izanami
- Sailor Fuku -- Jidai Private Academy's uniforms, complete with Zettai Ryouiki.
- Temporal Theme Naming -- A tad more obvious than usual, as the first character in the last names of all the Cures are the exact characters for the seasons they represent.
- Trademark Favorite Drink -- Izanami eventually gains a fondness for milk tea.
- Yes Girl -- Yuzuki to Emiri
- ↑ Samurai (though like in Shinkenger it's more likely just a visual motif), kanji, the sushi hut the girls hang out at
- ↑ the gyaru subculture