Each Precure leader usually has a catchphrase. Sometimes, it reflects the theme of the season. For example, in last season, Healin’ Good Precure, Nodoka/Cure Grace’s catchphrase was, “Fuwa~ Ikiteru tte kanji!” which means, “Ah, I feel so alive!” It suited a season about health, nature, and the environment.
Another sillier example is Kirakira Precure a la Mode‘s leader Ichika/Cure Whip’s phrase, “Whip, step, jump!” Get it? 🙄 She didn’t say it often because Toei could rarely fit it into the dialogue where it sounded natural.
Other catchphrases like HUGtto! Hana/Cure Yell’s “Mechokku!” (Mega Shock!) or Futari wa Nagisa/Cure Black’s “Ariena~i!” (Unbelievable!) have nothing to do with the seasons themselves. They’re just funny lines that add personality to their characters. Sometimes, they’re also referenced in the theme songs — for example, in Futari wa‘s theme song:
ichinan satte mata ichinan
Out of the frying pan and into the fire
bucchake arienai
Totally unbelievable!
You Precure fans didn’t read that. You sang it, didn’t you? 😛
Lost in Translation: “Tropica-shine!”
Tropical-Rouge! Precure’s leader Manatsu/Cure Summer’s catchphrase is “Toropikatteru~!” (トロピカってる～), which roughly translates to “Tropica-shine!” I say “roughly” because there’s a pun in the catchphrase, but there’s no way to recreate it in English. This was the best Toei and Crunchyroll could do.
To help explain, let’s look at the name of the season. Since “tropical” and “rouge” are foreign words, the Japanese rewrite them phonetically using katakana, one of their two syllabaries. “Tropical” becomes “toropikaru” (トロピカル), and “rouge” becomes “ruuju” (ルージュ).
Notice the first word ends with “ru” (ル), and the last word begins with “ru”. That’s why “Tropical-Rouge!” has a hyphen in it. It’s emphasizing the double “ru” sound in the middle. But in katakana, the name is written as “Toropika Ruuju!” (トロピカル〜ジュ！).
Now let’s look at the “toropika” part. The pun in Manatsu’s catchphrase is the “pika” (ピカ) at the end. “Pikapika” is an onomatopoeia meaning “sparkling” or “shining”. You might recognize it from a certain Pokémon’s name.
So, her catchphrase is a play on “toropikaru” (tropical) and “pika” (shine). The “tteru~” part is a verb tense for an ongoing action. (It’s like a gerund.) Drop the “ru” in “toropikaru” and smash everything together, and we get “Toropikatteru~!” or “Tropica-shine!” Not the best translation, but as close as we can get in English.
What do you think of Manatsu’s catchphrase? What’s your favorite Precure catchphrase? Let me know in the comments!
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