Manga / Prétear

(aka: Pretear)

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Shin Shirayuki-hime Densetsu Puriitia — "Prétear: The New Legend of Snow-White", often shortened to just Prétear — is a Shōjo story with a premise that can be described as "Magical Girl Warrior Snow White and the Seven Pretty Boys". Originally a four-volume manga created by Jun'ichi Sato (best known as the director of the Sailor Moon and Princess Tutu anime series) and Kaori Naruse, it was adapted into a thirteen-episode anime series, with some noticeable changes in the plot and character designs; both the manga and the anime were licensed by ADV; the anime is now licensed by Funimation.

The story revolves around sixteen-year-old Himeno Awayuki, who finds herself in a situation like in "Cinderella": several years after her mother's death, her father Kaoru married the rich widow Natsue who has two daughters, neither of whom seem to like Himeno. Unable to fit into this new environment, Himeno gets more and more depressed, even starting to think that it would be better if she disappeared from the world... that is, until she stumbles upon seven magical boys who call themselves the Léafe Knights. They are searching for a girl who can accept their Elemental Powers and become a Magical Girl Warrior named "Prétear" who will save the world from Fenrir, the Princess of Disaster.

Interestingly Pretear seems to be Junichi Sato's prototype run for his work on Princess Tutu. Both have plucky red-haired magical girl heroines (Himeno, Ahiru/Duck) Both involve an initially hostile and jerky dark-haired guy who become a love interest (Hayate, Fakir) Both have a white-haired male ally who turns evil for the love of a dark princess (Sasame and Fenrir, Mytho/Siegfried and Rue/ Krahe.) Both involve Fairy tale and Magical Girl elements.

Not to be confused with the Pretty Cure franchise.

Tropes:

• Adaptational Context Change: Though Hayate is a catalyst in both the manga and anime, the reason Takako becomes the Princess of Disaster is different between the two. In the manga Takako confessed her love to Hayate and he pretended to reciprocate her feelings as to not hurt her, but she ultimately became the Princess of Disaster when she realized that Hayate didn’t actually love her. Whereas in the anime Takako confessed her love to Hayate but he immediately rejected her, and she became the Princess of Disaster because of this rejection.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Sasame is blond in the manga, and has white hair in the anime.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Takako to Hayate, plus the anime has Sasame to Takako and Takako to Sasame's dead body...and you could possibly count Himeno's confession for Mawata to Sasame ("She was totally in love with you!") Pretear really likes this trope.
• Animal Espionage: Takako uses her butterflies to spy on the heroes at times.
• Attack Its Weak Point: The Mayouchuu already attached to something can only be killed by destroying their "core".
• Big "NO!": In the manga, Himeno lets out one when she realizes that she's accidentally killed Shin.
• Catchphrase: Himeno's "I won't lose!"/"I don't want to lose!"
• Chekhov's Gunman: Mikage starts out as a minor character... She is Takako in disguise.
• Combined Energy Attack: In both versions, Himeno takes the Léafe from all Knights during the final battle, with different results.
• Costume Porn: Himeno has eight different Prétear forms, and all of the knights have elaborate robes they wear in battle. Remember, the show's tagline in the US was "wearable bishounen!"
• Curtains Match the Window: Half of the main characters, for example, Himeno (red hair, red eyes) and Mawata (blueish-green hair and eyes).
• Death by Childbirth: Himeno's mother, in the manga. She doesn't know about that until Natsue spells it out for her. Averted in the anime. Himeno was already 5 years old when her mother died.
• Demonic Possession: Manga only. Takako possesses Natsue and uses her to turn other people into her puppets.
• Despair Event Horizon: Sasame reaches this point in the anime when he realizes that no matter what he does, Takako won't turn back from evil.
• Disappeared Dad: Natsue's deceased first husband, also Mayune and Mawata's father. Mawata still misses him terribly, and that's one of the sources of her loneliness.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Prétear's power is to merge with a Leafe Knight, gaining the power of his element, described at one point as being something like the Knight "entering her body." It's not made as much of in the manga, but the anime plays it up shamelessly in the Transformation Sequence and Himeno, clearly aware of the symbolism, gets quite flustered over it at first.
• Expy: The anime versions of Himeno, Hayate, Sasame and Takako appear to have expies in Ahiru/Duck, Fakir, Mytho and Rue from Princess Tutu (another anime directed by Junichi Sato), although since Tutu was first thought up by Ikuko Itoh and Sato during their work on Sailor Moon, it might be the other way around.
• Gray Rain of Depression: Sasame is shown wandering around in the rain after his confession to Takako.
• Heel–Face Turn: Himeno's kindness and Sasame's death out of love for her enable Takako to regain her humanity and return to normal.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Himeno at the end of the anime, and that's after Hayate died protecting her and Sasame dies out of love for Takako. Thanks to True Love's Kiss, they all get better.
• Kiss of Death: A symbolic one — Takako kisses Mawata before extracting her soul.
• Late for School: Himeno at the start of the series, forced to take a shortcut that leads into... somewhere. Or, in the anime, somebody.
• Manchild: Kaoru is so feckless that Himeno sometimes has to act as a parent to him. He means well, but he clearly expects all the women in his life—his daughter included—to take care of him. He takes a level in grown-up by the last episode.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Also a Prophetic Name in Himeno's case - the "Hime" in "Himeno" means "princess", and the "yuki" in "Awayuki" means "snow".
  • "Hayate" can be read as "the sound of the wind".
  • "Kei" is written with the character for "firefly" - an insect that creates light.
  • "Fenrir" is named after the wolf and son of Loki in Norse Mythology. Though not a wolf, she is an entity that was sealed away for the safety of the world, and whose breakout spells doom.
  • Given the Nordic motifs in the series—such as the villain being named "Fenrir"—it's very likely that "Léafe" is derived from the Old Norse "Lif," which translates into "life" (and is indeed prounounced similar to "leaf").
• Mirror Character: Fenrir points this out in episode 8, saying that Himeno is going to be abandoned by the Knights after the fight is over, and then she will become an evil being like her. Given that Fenrir used to be the Prétear and was in love with Hayate, this makes perfect sense...
• Missing Mom: Himeno's real mother is dead, hence the stepmother, although she isn't a wicked queen.
• Negative Continuity: In the manga, it is originally established that Natsue is simply divorced and her first husband is alive; later in the series, it is said that he died before she married Himeno's father. He is dead from the begining in the anime, though.
• Nightmare Dreams: Himeno at the start of episode 5. It was Fenrir/Takako's attempt to communicate with her.
• "On the Next Episode of…" Catchphrase: "I'll win in the next episode, too!" (dub)/"I won't be beaten in the next episode, either!" (sub), both spoken by Himeno.
• Otaku: In the anime, Yayoi Takato is a big fan of romance novels, to the point when almost anything said by other characters prompts her to give a long speech that sounds like a passage from a poorly written romance novel - and often doesn't make much sense.
• Overclocking Attack: In the last episode, Himeno defeats the Big Bad's evil tree by feeding it so much of her own Léafe that it disintegrates.
• Phantom Zone: The field created by Shin in the anime version to protect the worlds during fights.
• Recruit Teenagers with Attitude: Justified with the Knights, who have pretty much been trained from birth (and may only look like teenagers, given that aside from the three youngest they all looked pretty much the same sixteen years ago as they do in the present), but played pretty straight with Himeno and Takako. The show actually deals with the consequences of putting the fate of the world on the shoulders of a teenage girl.
• Requisite Royal Regalia: Himeno's Magical Girl costumes include tiaras; the one she wears as the White Prétear actually resembles a crown.
• Running Gag: Several, and they all show up together at the end of the last episode.
  • Yayoi's crazy speeches about love, inspired by romance novels.
  • Mayune's attempts to seduce the Knights who wander around the house.
  • Natsue's "Tanaka. [Did something wrong.] Salary cut for N months."
  • Tanaka losing his "precious" hair due to stress.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Sasame has a few face-fault moments in the anime where his glasses are whited-out, which isn't really this trope...but there's another scene in which he stands on a roof, wind blowing dramatically through his clothes and glasses shining right before his Face–Heel Turn that's definitely this trope.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Takako was sealed away sixteen years before, and broke the seal at the start of the first episode. (In the manga, she didn't break free, which still didn't stop her from possessing people.)
• Shoo Out the Clowns: At the beginning of the two-part finale, Yayoi and Tanaka are dragged away from the city in a crowd of fleeing townspeople. Neither is seen again until the ending.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Kaoru and Natsue's cooing over each other can't help but be mortally embarassing to their teenage children.
• Stepford Smiler: Mawata and Sasame. Mawata is outwardly polite, quiet and mature, but feels hollow and unloved ever since her father died. Sasame's case is even better: is flirty, cheerful and helpful, to the point that none of the Knights or Himeno see his eventual breakdown coming despite numerous hints that he was struggling.
• Trapped the Wrong Target: Mayune sets a trap that pours honey from a statue, hoping for revenge against Himeno for spraying water on her earlier. She gets Mr. Tanaka instead, who surprisingly finds it a good thing since he was hunting for (demon larvae) insects at the time.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield??: Awayuki Town is shown in the anime to be a city built on a small island connected to the main part of Japan by a bridge—that's about all we know.
• Wicked Stepmother: Subverted in the anime where Natsue is more strict than evil and does care for Kaoru and Himeno. The manga plays it more straight, as Natsue neglects Himeno and her girls, and is also possessed by the Big Bad.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The Princess of Disaster had her heart broken by the man she loved, failed in her quest to protect the Leafe as a result, and was corrupted by Fenrir and turned evil, devoting her life to destroying what she once sought to protect.