Hug! Pretty Cure Futari wa Pretty Cure: All Stars Memories

Lore & Background

The film features the Hug! Pretty Cure team joining forces with the original Pretty Cure team to retrieve the Pretty Cures' stolen powers and memories from a vengeful teru teru bōzu named Miden. Miden, originally a camera called the Miden F Mark II, gained sentience after its manufacturer went bankrupt and began stealing memories to create its own. The plot follows the Cures as they confront Miden, with Cure Yell ultimately comforting him and promising to make new memories together.

Reader's Guide

Hug! Pretty Cure Futari wa Pretty Cure: All Stars Memories holds significance as the 15th-anniversary film of the Pretty Cure franchise and the first crossover since 2016 to feature all Pretty Cures from the first series onward. It set a Guinness World Record for 'Most Magical Warriors in an Anime Film' with 55 Pretty Cures across thirteen generations. The film topped Japanese box office records during its theatrical run. Its production combined cel animation and computer-generated animation, with dialogue recorded twice and CGI work beginning in January 2018. The film also featured tie-ins with Yokohama City, including a special stage dance and an exhibition at Yokohama Landmark Tower.

Did You Know?

• The film holds the Guinness World Record for 'Most Magical Warriors in an Anime Film' with 55 Pretty Cures.
• Miden, the antagonist, was originally a camera called the Miden F Mark II that gained sentience after its manufacturer went bankrupt.

A Record-Breaking Assembly of Heroes

The eleventh entry in the Pretty Cure crossover cinema tradition holds a distinction that no other animated feature has matched: it earned a Guinness World Record for featuring the most magical warriors in a single anime film. The achievement rests on the sheer scale of its cast—fifty-five Cures are given speaking roles, each drawn from the franchise's long-running lineage of television series. This is not merely a cameo-heavy spectacle; every one of those characters is afforded dialogue, making the film a genuine ensemble piece on an unprecedented scale. For a franchise that began in February 2004 with a single team of teenage heroes, the fact that its crossover tradition could eventually assemble so many distinct warriors under one roof speaks to the depth of storytelling accumulated across more than a thousand episodes. The record cements the film's place not just within the Pretty Cure universe but in the broader landscape of animated cinema, where no other title has attempted or achieved such a dense gathering of recurring heroines.

The Annual Crossover Tradition

Since 2009, the Pretty Cure franchise has maintained a consistent practice of releasing a crossover film each year, one that brings characters from multiple television series together in a shared narrative. By the time the eleventh installment arrived, this tradition had already established itself as a cornerstone of the franchise's theatrical output, with fourteen such films released in total by the most recent count. The crossover format serves a unique storytelling purpose within a universe where each series typically follows its own distinct team of teenage girls—granted special items, aided by fairy companions, and pitted against ever-evolving evil forces. When those separate teams converge on the big screen, the result is a celebration of continuity and shared mythology that spans the entire franchise. For audiences who have followed the series since the original 2004 debut, these annual films function as a reunion, while for newcomers they offer a compressed introduction to a world of more than twenty-three television series and over a thousand episodes of accumulated lore.

Built on a Foundation of Transformation and Teamwork

The narrative architecture that makes the All Stars crossover possible is rooted in a formula established when Izumi Todo created the franchise and Toei Animation began producing it in early 2004. At its core, each Pretty Cure series follows a group of teenage girls who receive special items enabling them to transform into legendary warriors. Guided by fairy companions, these heroes wield magical powers and enhanced physical strength to combat evil forces that spawn monsters to spread misery across the Earth. As threats escalate, the Cures acquire new magical items, unlock additional abilities, and sometimes welcome new allies into their ranks. This escalating structure—where each season introduces stronger enemies and deeper transformations—creates a natural progression that, across twenty-three television series, generates a vast and interconnected roster of characters. The All Stars film draws directly from this well, assembling warriors who have each undergone their own arc of growth, power-up, and alliance, giving the ensemble a sense of earned depth rather than mere spectacle.

A Franchise That Extends Far Beyond the Screen

The All Stars Memories film does not exist in isolation; it is one node in an expansive multimedia ecosystem that has grown alongside the anime since 2004. Every television series in the franchise has received a manga adaptation illustrated by Futago Kamikita, serialized in Kodansha's Nakayoshi shoujo magazine in parallel with the anime broadcast. Bandai Namco Entertainment has produced a long line of video games spanning Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Nintendo Switch, and mobile platforms, alongside arcade Data Carddass machines. Stage productions have brought the characters to live audiences, with multiple Dancing Star Pretty Cure theatrical runs and a Colorful Runway! Pretty Cure The Stage scheduled for 2026. Internationally, three series have received full English-language dubs—Pretty Cure through Ocean Productions in Canada, and Smile PreCure! and DokiDoki! PreCure via Saban Brands on Netflix as Glitter Force—while additional titles have found audiences through English subtitles and streaming on platforms like Crunchyroll. As of 2020, Toei Animation Inc. and Toei Animation Europe hold the franchise's international rights, ensuring this sprawling media presence continues to reach global audiences.