Go! Princess PreCure

, also known as Go! Princess Pretty Cure, is a 2015 Japanese magical girl anime series produced by Toei Animation, and the twelfth installment to Izumi Todo's "Pretty Cure" metaseries, featuring the tenth generation of Cures. It is directed by Yuta Tanaka and written by Jin Tanaka of "" with character designs by Yukiko Nakatani. The series began airing on February 1, 2015, succeeding "HappinessCharge PreCure!" in its initial timeslot. The series' main topics are hopes and dreams with the Cures' overall motif being princesses, keys and perfumes. It was then succeeded by "Witchy PreCure!" on February 7, 2016.
Story.
Eight years ago, a young girl named Haruka Haruno dreams of becoming a Princess like the ones in fairy tales. However, she is always being bullied by her classmates in kindergarten due to her dream. She later met a boy named Kanata who gave her a strange charm while having her promise to never give up on her dreams. Eight years later, now 13 years of age, Haruka attends the Noble Academy boarding school while still cherishing her dreams of becoming a princess like the one from her picture books. One day, she encountered two fairy creatures from the Hope Kingdom: Pafu and Aroma, who were followed by a strange man named Close. The fairies told her that he works for Dys Dark, led by a witch named Dyspear who wants to bring despair to the world by locking dreams away in the Gate of Despair. With Haruka having no choice, the charm she had turned out to be a key and the fairies gave her a Princess Perfume, becoming one of the Hope Kingdom's chosen warriors: Cure Flora, a Pretty Cure to oppose Dys Dark. Later joined by Minami Kaido, Kirara Amanogawa and Towa Akagi; as Cure Mermaid, Cure Twinkle, and Cure Scarlet, Haruka forms the Princess Pretty Cure Team to collect Dress Up Keys needed to open the Gate of Dreams while protecting people's dreams from Dys Dark's forces.
Main characters.
Go! Princess Pretty Cures.
The Go! Princess Pretty Cures, who represent the Hope Kingdom are composed of four warriors: Cure Flora, Cure Mermaid, Cure Twinkle and Cure Scarlet. Chosen by their , their mission is to find the remaining ones while protecting the Gate of Dreams and everyone from Dys Dark. All four of them are armed with a magical transformation item called a which they activate with a Dress Up Key while saying . Each also has another form called while in this form they can use their main attacks. They later use to perform more powerful attacks and to enter a new Mode Elegant with Elegant Keys and Miracle Keys with Cure Scarlet using as her main weapon to perform her own attack. They later gain more powerful attacks by using along with Premium Dress Up Keys, later the Royal Dress Up Key to access new Mode Elegant forms. They introduce themselves as and their catchphrase is (except Cure Scarlet, her catchphrase is 
Hope Kingdom.
The are a group of magical animals who serve the Prince of the Hope Kingdom, entrusted to find the Pretty Cures and educate them to be a real Princess. Their appearances are all based on the Animal Mascots in various Fairy Tales.
Dys Dark.
 are the main antagonists of the series, whose goal is to make peoples' dream trapped into the Gate of Despair and spread the world with despair and chaos. After taking over the Hope Kingdom, Dys Dark's forces are dispatched to Yumegahama to find the Dress Up Keys to conquer the world. While Dyspear is on recovery in the Forest of Despair, she left Lock in charge so he and Shut can fuel the gauges to gather people's despair to speed up her restoration. However, Lock's act of treason lost the Hope Kingdom's castle with a revived Dyspear creating a new palace from thorns. Dys is a short name for despair. All the generals survive after Dyspear's defeat. Close departs after fighting Cure Flora while Shut and Lock starts their new life in Yumegahama.
Generals.
They serve as Dyspear's elite subordinates. Close, Shut and Lock formed into a group called the . Their names are referring to the words that sealed the door (Close) and to the words that halt something (Stop and Freeze). They have the power to trap people's dreams into the Gate of Despair to create Zetsuborgs, depending which appearance they summoned when they increased their power. Twilight can use her Dress Up Keys on them to increase their power and also power up the Zetsuborg. They can also assume their monstrous form when battling the Cures in the later part of the series.
Other characters.
Noble Academy.
Unlike the rest of the series, this academy is a boarding school with dormitory and they greet the others by saying "".
Production.
"Go! Princess PreCure" was first trademarked by Toei back on October 7, 2014 by the Japan Patent Office to be used in a variety of goods and merchandise and became public later that month. On November 28, 2014, the series's official teaser site opens with a confirmed release date. Later on December 16, the Pretty Cure Store in Osaka, Japan teased the possible character designs of the main heroines, which was revealed on December 26, 2014. The names of the main Cures were revealed in the event as Cure Flora, Cure Mermaid and Cure Twinkle as well as more official information in the event.
The official website of the anime is also updated with the same information about the cast. The dormitory setting of the series is a first in the Pretty Cure franchise, that depicts the excitement of dorm life, coming of age while living with friends, and the anticipation and anxiety of a new life among roommates, separated from family.
To promote the anime, trailers were shown during the final four episodes of "HappinessCharge PreCure!", featuring the transformation scenes of the main Cures. Cure Flora made an appearance at the end of the last episode along with Cure Lovely by doing a baton touch.
Media.
Anime.
"Go! Princess PreCure" began airing on all ANN television stations on February 1, 2015, succeeding "HappinessCharge PreCure!" in its initial timeslot along with the Broadcasting System of San-in airing on February 7, 2015.
Film.
The main characters appeared in the movie "Pretty Cure All Stars: Carnival of Spring♪", released on March 14, 2015. A three-part feature film, , was released on October 31, 2015. The film consists of a cel-animated short, titled , and two fully CG animated shorts, titled and respectively. The film's theme song is titled "Kira Kira" by Every Little Thing while the ending theme is the same as the anime's second ending.
Music.
The opening theme is titled "Miracle Go! Princess PreCure" by Karin Isobe while the first ending is titled "Dreaming ☆ Princess PreCure" (1-25) and the second ending is "Dreams are the Path to the Future" (26-50) by Rie Kitagawa. The opening theme is composed by Ryo Watanabe, the first ending theme is by Sayaka Yamamoto, the second ending theme is by Rei Ishizuka, and the background music is by Hiroshi Takaki, who previously composed the music for "DokiDoki! PreCure" and "HappinessCharge PreCure!". The single was released on March 5, 2015 by Marvelous! featuring the theme songs. The first official soundtrack of the series, titled "Precure Sound Engage!!" was released on May 27, 2015 along with the first vocal album on July 15, 2015 with the title "Strongly, Gently, Beautifully". The single for the second ending theme was released on October 7, 2015. The second vocal album was released on November 11, 2015 with the title "For My Dream" along with the movie's official soundtrack. A second official soundtrack was released on November 18, 2015 with the title "Precure Sound Blaze!!". On January 13, 2016, a vocal best album was released.
Manga.
Like the series before it, a manga adaptation by Futago Kamikita began serialization in Kodansha's "Nakayoshi" magazine from its March 2015 issue. The first Tankōbon volume was released on August 6, 2015 and the second was released on February 5, 2016.
Video game.
A video game titled was released by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the Nintendo 3DS on July 30, 2015.
Merchandise.
Merchandise for the series is released by Bandai during its run including watches, bags, transformation items and more.