HeartCatch PreCure! (ハートキャッチプリキュア! Hātokyatchi PuriKyua!?) or HeartCatch Pretty Cure! is a Japanese anime series and the seventh Pretty Cure installment by Izumi Todo. Produced by Toei Animation, the series is directed by Tatsuya Nagamine, who directed Beet the Vandel Buster and written by Takashi Yamada, the main writer of the Omajo DoReMi series. Official character designs were done by Yoshihiko Umakoshi, who did the character designs for Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor and Marmalade Boy. The series premiered on February 7, 2010 on TV Asahi's ANN network, following Fresh Pretty Cure!, and ended on January 30, 2011, where it was followed by Suite PreCure.
The series has two main motifs. One is fashion, which is referenced to Tsubomi joining the fashion club, which is part of the storyline. And second is flowers, which are prominent in the naming of numerous characters and items, as well as in the main storyline. Additionally, most episodes contain at least one reference to the language of flowers.
HeartCatch PreCure! was selected anime series of the year in the December 2010 issue of British magazine Impact.
In each person resides a Heart Flower, which is connected to the great Heart Tree that watches over everyone. Protecting this tree are the Heartcatch PreCures, who defend it against the Desert Apostles, who plan to wilt everything and turn the world into a desert. However, when the current PreCure, Cure Moonlight, is defeated in battle and the Heart Tree loses its flowers, she sends two fairies, Chypre and Coffret, to the surface in order to seek out her replacement. They find Tsubomi Hanasaki, a shy flower-loving girl that had just moved into the city with her family, who is given the power to become Cure Blossom. Joined by her new friend, Erika Kurumi, who becomes Cure Marine, they fight against the Desert Apostles who transform the wilting Heart Flowers inside people into monsters known as Desertarians. By defeating these monsters, they gain Heart Seeds which allow the Heart Tree to become healthier again.
