Nikaido Tsumugi

Nikaido Tsumugi (二階堂 紬 Nikaidō Tsumugi), full name Lisa Scarlett Serena Logan Nikaido (リサ・スカーレット・セレナ・ロガン・二階堂 Risa Sukāretto Serena Rogan Nikaidō), is one of the main Cures in Rhythmic Pretty Cure. She is a 15-year-old girl who likes karate and heavy metal and is in the same rhythmic gymnastics class as the other Cures.

Personality

Tsumugi is quite the tomboy, and she goes to karate class every Monday and Thursday. She strongly believes in justice, and she'll gladly thrash anyone who opposes justice. She's got a softer side, though; it's just not very obvious. Her girlier hobbies include rhythmic gymnastics and cooking, and she also enjoys the company of Ribbon (who is a cute rabbit with pink fur) and other cute-looking animals. As a rhythmic gymnast, she mainly uses clubs, though she's surprisingly adept with the ribbon as well.

Appearance

As a civilian, Tsumugi has dirty blonde hair in twintails and blue eyes. In the colder months, she wears a red leather jacket over a black T-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers; during and close to summer, she wears a red camisole top, jean capris, and sandals. When in rhythmic gymnastics class, she wears a red tank top, cuffed jean shorts, classical pink tights, and pink ballet slippers; she wears the same thing to competitions and exhibitions, except the tights are theatrical pink.

As Cure Clubs, her hair becomes longer and becomes platinum blonde with red highlights. Tying her twintails in place is a red tulle strip around each. She wears a silver tiara with a ruby gemstone encrusted in the center. Her main outfit consists of a red top with puffy sleeves with green lining at the end of the left sleeve and gold lining at the end of the right sleeve. On her chest is a red bow with a gold circular brooch. Her shorts are white with red lining; around the waistline of the shorts is a red satin sash with a bow in the back. She has white gloves reaching to just above her elbows, theatrical pink tights, and pink ballet slippers with two straps forming a crisscross on either side. In a pouch on the right side of her shorts is a gold object that is, at its full length and size, the Precise Baton, and her RhythmPhone hangs from her right hip.

History

Relationships

  • Hitomi Ichinose : Tsumugi's childhood friend and longtime karate classmate and sparring partner.
  • Saeko Mitaka : Tsumugi's BFF who had gone to public school with her for years.

Cure Clubs

Cure Clubs (キュアくらぶす Kyua Kurabusu) is the alter ego of Tsumugi. She represents the clubs, and she has a primary fire motif and a secondary rose motif.

Transformation

Using the dial pad on the RhythmPhone, Tsumugi dials 773-2873. As a red light subsequently envelops her, she shouts, "Pretty Cure New Horizons!" Her body starts floating, glowing with silver light (save for her head), and she performs a backflip. Her top, shorts, tights, and shoes appear on her at the same time, and she performs three tiptoe turns to the right with her left arm in front of her and her right arm extended outwards to the side as a red sash ties itself around her shorts and her hair lengthens and is retied into twintails with red bows. The Precise Baton appears in her right hand, and she twirls it above her head as white gloves form on her arms from her fingertips to just above her elbow. After she puts the Precise Baton into her shorts pocket, her tiara appears, and she performs a high kick as her arms go up. As she pirouettes three times, the RhythmPhone attaches itself to the sash. After a single backflip, she introduces herself as Cure Clubs, pirouettes twice with her arms in a circle above her head, and subsequently poses.

Attacks

  • Passion Pirouette - Her solo finisher.
  • Powerful Kick (パワーフルキク Pawāfuru Kiku) - A sub-attack. Cure Clubs gets within close range of her opponent, raises her arms above her head swiftly, and strikes her opponent with a high kick.
  • Blazing Shield (ブレイジングシールド Bureizingu Shīrudo) - A sub-attack for defensive purposes. Cure Clubs uses her Precise Baton to project illusionary fire as a shield between herself and the enemy. However, she can only deploy this for up to one minute at a time.

Etymology

Nikaido (二階堂) : Ni (二) means two, a reference to her being the second Cure to awaken. Kai (階) means floor (as in, the floor of a building, each floor separated by several feet). Do (堂) means temple.

Tsumugi (紬): The word refers to a soft, unbleached silk called pongee; here, the name is more-or-less ironic given the character's personality.

Lisa: Typically short for Elizabeth, but here, it's actually a variation on the multilingual name Lisse, for which the etymology is unknown (though it's been speculated to be a reference to silk).

Scarlett: Derived from an English occupational surname, in reference to purveyors of scarlet cloth. The name is a reference to her theme color.

Serena: Derived from serenus, a Latin word that can mean "clear", "tranquil", or "serene". However, her mother named her after a popular Japanese superheroine from the '90s.

Logan: A unisex name derived from the Gaelic word for "hollow". In this case, her mother had another popular superhero in mind when giving her this name.

Trivia

  • Tsumugi is similar to Hojo Hibiki from Suite Pretty Cure:
    • Both are sporty Cures with long hair.
    • Both have a softer side.
    • Both have midriff-baring Cure costumes.
    • Both have similar ending poses.
    • Both come from wealthy households.
    • Both wear their hair in twintails.
    • Both can play a musical instrument (Hibiki's is the piano, while Tsumugi's is the guitar).
  • She also shares the following similarities with Natsuki Rin from Yes! Pretty Cure 5 and Hino Akane from Smile Pretty Cure:
    • All three have red as a theme color.
    • Their leaders have pink as a theme color (Cure Dream, Cure Happy, and Cure Twirl).
    • All three are sporty Cures.
    • All three can use fire-based powers.
    • They're the second Cures of their respective groups.
  • Her Cure costume is unique.
  • Like Ichinose Hitomi, Myoudouin Itsuki from Heartcatch Pretty Cure, Aoki Reika from Smile Pretty Cure, and Yotsuba Alice from Doki Doki Pretty Cure, Tsumugi is a martial artist.
  • She's the first Cure of Australian descent.
  • She and Mitaka Saeko are the first Cures to speak in the Nagoya dialect.
  • Her accent when speaking English is officially General Australian, with nuances from Broad Australian, Received Pronunciation, and South Australian English.
  • She shares similarities with a certain Champion of Justice:
    • Both wear their hair in twintails (though Tsumugi doesn't have odangos in her hair).
    • Both have blonde hair and blue eyes.
    • Both have a younger brother.
    • Both have a tendency to spin when doing their attacks.
    • Both use a similar baton in certain attacks.
    • Both have a similar ending pose.
    • Both say "I'll punish you!" when addressing the villains (though Tsumugi does it far less often and has only done so in episode 2 so far).
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