Recaps

Ash returned the stolen Heart Seeds after fighting Rei and the others, and the restored Heart Tree awakened a new fairy. Meanwhile, Dark Precure and Timons learned the tree had returned and set out to find and kill the newborn fairy, while Ash agreed to accompany Dark Precure on another date.

• Ash returned all the stolen Heart Seeds and left after declaring that he looked forward to fighting the Pretty Cure again.
• Eddie apologized to Rei, Erika, and the others, then offered Yuri the Dragon Strike Sword before she urged him to keep working toward becoming a hero himself.
• Eddie drank Ash's coffee, and the girls placed the recovered Seeds in the Heart Pot, restoring the Heart Tree and awakening a new fairy.
• Dark Precure told Timons that the Heart Tree had survived because a newborn fairy protected it, and she made finding and killing the fairy their mission.
• Ash agreed to accompany Dark Precure on another date and considered telling Rei and the others about the new fairy.

Popuri chose Ash as a candidate to become the third Pretty Cure, but he refused and advised her to seek someone with strong protective instincts. Popuri, Shiffre, and Coffret began searching, and their first target, Eddie, botched an attempt to help an elderly woman and fled from the police.

• Popuri recognized Ash’s strength and asked him to become the third Pretty Cure after explaining how she had helped the girls protect the Heart Tree.
• Ash considered transforming but refused, then told Popuri to look for someone determined to protect others.
• Popuri, Shiffre, and Coffret disguised themselves and set out on a Pretty Cure recruitment search.
• The fairies spotted Eddie and watched as he insisted on carrying an elderly woman across the street despite her objections.
• The elderly woman struck Eddie after he carried her back to the wrong side, and Eddie fled when she appeared to recognize him and called for the police.

Popuri set out to find another Pretty Cure but was overwhelmed by students and ended up at a hospital, where Ash found Itsuki. As Itsuki shared her worries about her brother’s upcoming surgery, Ash offered to help, but she refused.

• Popuri approached three students to ask whether they wanted to become Pretty Cure, but their excited attention frightened her into flying away and entering a building.
• Ash followed Popuri’s trail to the hospital, where he met Itsuki and asked whether she had seen a doll-like fairy.
• Ash listened as Itsuki described her daily life and her growing closeness to him, while she realized her feelings toward him had changed.
• Itsuki explained that her brother was awaiting a high-risk surgery and had become anxious, and she wished she could ease his burden.
• Ash offered to step in and help Itsuki’s brother, but Itsuki immediately refused.

Ash gave Itsuki the lunch she had prepared, then secretly set up a test involving her and the Desert Apostles. When Itsuki refused Popuri’s offer to become a Pretty Cure, Ash used a modified stamp on her brother Meidoin Kou, turning him into a monster and beginning his experiment with Dune’s power.

• Itsuki gave Ash a homemade lunch, and he thanked her before leaving; afterward, she revealed Popuri, who invited her to become the third Pretty Cure.
• Erika and Rei arrived with Shiffre and Coffret, and Itsuki learned that her friends were Pretty Cure, but she refused Popuri’s offer because she believed she lacked the strength to protect others.
• A crash from the hospital room interrupted the conversation, and Itsuki ran toward her brother Meidoin Kou’s room.
• Ash entered Kou’s room and tempted him with a strange stamp, which stamped Kou by itself and transformed him into a monster.
• Ash recognized Kou’s transformation as a fusion of Desert Apostle and Desperado technology and prepared to test the power linked to Dune.

Ash revealed that he had transformed Itsuki's brother into a powerful Desperado Desertrian, breaking Itsuki's trust before leading the monster away to fight the Pretty Cures. As Cure Blossom and Cure Marine struggled against the monster's overwhelming strength, Itsuki arrived just as its spiked tail threatened to pierce Marine.

• Ash admitted to Itsuki that he had attacked her brother, then explained that his friendship with her had been genuine but that he remained a villain who acted for himself.
• Ash left through the hospital window as the monster grew, and Cure Blossom and Cure Marine transformed and pursued it while Itsuki stayed behind.
• Ash guided the monster to an open plaza, where Cure Blossom and Cure Marine were overwhelmed by its blade-like arms and powerful attacks.
• Ash recognized that the monster's stamp carried immense destructive power linked to Lord Dune, while his own Gear Gun remained broken.
• Itsuki arrived with Popuri and recognized the monster's use of her brother's Meidoin-ryu technique as its spiked tail lunged toward Cure Marine.

Ash saved Erika from the monster, but his attempt to destroy the seal failed as Dune took control of Meidoin Kou and attacked the Pretty Cure. When Itsuki and Popuri vowed to protect their loved ones, golden light burst from them, leaving their transformation or power unexplained.

• Ash rescued Erika, then argued with her before revealing a remote meant to destroy the seal; the monster broke it with a beam and taunted him.
• Meidoin Kou briefly resisted Dune, and Ash urged him to think of Itsuki, but Dune seized control again and attacked the group.
• Ash shielded the Pretty Cure from the monster's spikes, but the shield broke, and the monster overwhelmed Rei and Erika with powerful attacks.
• Itsuki stood between the monster and the injured Pretty Cure, and Popuri shielded her from a blow before both were knocked aside.
• Itsuki and Popuri declared that they would protect the people they loved, and golden light erupted from them as Ash challenged Dune's claim that they could do nothing.

Itsuki Meidoin transformed into Cure Sunshine and fought the monster created from her brother Meidoin Kou, while Ash tested her strength and urged her to embrace the darkness in people’s hearts. After Itsuki vowed to illuminate Ash’s darkness, she prepared her Shiny Tambourine’s finishing attack, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• Itsuki Meidoin accepted the Shining Perfume Bottle and Heart Seed, transformed into Cure Sunshine, and named herself a light like the sun.
• Itsuki demonstrated her new strength by defeating Ash in their sparring exchange and battling the monster with her martial arts and Sunflower Aegis.
• Itsuki used her full power to damage the monster and help Meidoin Kou regain some awareness as its energy weakened.
• Ash urged Itsuki to deny the malice within hearts and join him, but Itsuki refused and declared that she would illuminate his darkness.
• Itsuki summoned the Shiny Tambourine, gathered its power, and began her Pretty Cure Gold Forte Burst attack.

Itsuki purified Meidoin Kou and learned that Timons had chosen her because she reminded him of someone from his past. Dark Precure arrived to confront the Pretty Cures, then flew with Ash toward the Heart Tree, leaving the three girls to pursue them.

• Itsuki used Pretty Cure Gold Forte Burst to purify the monster and free her brother, whose health had been restored.
• Ash absorbed the Dark Echo from the surviving seal and considered using its fragments of Dune's body to strengthen himself.
• Dark Precure stopped Itsuki from taking the seal, then declared that she would defeat every Pretty Cure.
• Itsuki asked why Timons had chosen her, and Ash said she reminded him of someone he had known before.
• Ash and Dark Precure flew toward the Heart Tree, and the fairies gave Itsuki, Erika, and Rei cape-like forms that let them fly after them.

Itsuki pursued Ash and Dark Precure to the Heart Tree, where the tree unexpectedly showed Ash goodwill before the Pretty Cures arrived. Dark Precure challenged Itsuki while Ash fought Erika and Rei, and the chapter left Itsuki battling back after Dark Precure gained the upper hand.

• Dark Precure explained that Dr. Sabaku had sent her to find and destroy the Heart Tree, and she challenged Itsuki to fight her herself.
• Ash and Dark Precure reached the floating island and found the Heart Tree; it swayed and flashed at Ash, briefly captivating him before a dark projectile brought him back to his senses.
• Itsuki, Erika, and Rei arrived, and Itsuki confronted Dark Precure while Ash transformed into his Scorpion, Anomalocaris, and Condor form to fight Erika and Rei.
• Dark Precure outmatched Itsuki with superior speed and strength, while Ash used steel feathers and his Anomalocaris Knuckle Blades to strike Erika and Rei from behind.
• Dark Precure pinned Itsuki down and taunted her, but Itsuki unleashed golden power, blasted her away, and insisted that Ash had chosen her.

Ash and the Pretty Cures fought Dark Precure and Itsuki, but Ash collapsed from exhausting his life force, and Dark Precure chose to carry him away instead of completing her mission. Later, Ash tried to modify a recovered seal to harness demonic power, but his experiment failed.

• Itsuki and Dark Precure fought fiercely while Ash tested Rei and Erika, who eventually broke his Anomalocaris Knuckle Blades with a combined attack.
• Ash collapsed after suffering severe pain and coughing up blood, and Dark Precure drove the Pretty Cures back with the power of her golden eye.
• Dark Precure hesitated to destroy the Heart Tree because she worried about Ash, then abandoned the mission and flew away with him.
• Ash threw his half-broken Dark Evolver toward the Heart Tree, but it appeared to do nothing as faint strands of light began to gather around it.
• Ash later examined a recovered seal and failed to modify it to stabilize or harness demonic power.

Ash struggled to harness the Desert Apostles’ immense power while Nasta Café’s employees showed off Erika’s new uniforms and endured Ash’s terrible coffee. Kurumi Momoka visited to protect Yuri and Erika from what she saw as Ash’s advances, and Ash assigned Erika to serve her.

• Ash learned from Kain that the stamp’s power was beyond Giff’s and could only be safely neutralized by an opposing power.
• Erika, Rei, and Itsuki modeled the new uniforms she had designed, while Ash complimented them and Itsuki joined the café during her breaks.
• Yuri watched customers collapse after tasting Ash’s coffee, and Ash argued with Erika about his preference for revealing maid outfits.
• Erika began to recognize Ash’s good qualities before catching herself thinking about him.
• Kurumi Momoka arrived at the café, confronted Ash over his treatment of Yuri and Erika, and challenged the shop’s service.
• Ash responded to Momoka’s complaint by assigning Erika to serve her.

At Nazca Cafe, Erika burned her hand after getting distracted while thinking about romance, and Ash healed it with a kiss that left her flustered and newly attracted to him. The chapter ended with Momoka warning Ash that he would be responsible for Erika as well as Yuri if anything happened.

• Erika asked Momoka what made a man perfect, and Momoka told her that loving someone meant accepting their flaws.
• Erika accidentally spilled boiling water on her hand, burning herself while Momoka and her friends rushed to help.
• Ash took Erika’s hand, kissed the burn, and secretly used a pill to heal it.
• Erika blushed at Ash’s gesture and realized she understood how Rei had fallen for him.
• Momoka confronted Ash and told him he would be responsible for Erika as well as Yuri.

Erika secretly visited Ash’s room to uncover his past and impress him, but Ash caught her snooping and rebuked her attempted seduction. The chapter left Erika’s feelings about Ash unresolved as he showed no interest in her new look.

• Momoka left Ash’s shop angrily after he accepted her demand to take responsibility for the girls’ upbringing.
• Erika comforted Rei and promised to sound Ash out about Rei’s feelings for him, while privately wondering about her own feelings.
• Erika, Rei, and Itsuki defeated a Desertrian, and Cobra Saga warned them that Timons was preparing a surprise.
• Erika hurried to Ash’s café alone on her day off and entered his cluttered room to investigate his past.
• Erika found a No. 39: Utopia card and two sharp, strange pieces beneath Ash’s bed, then Ash caught her snooping and smacked her butt.
• Erika dressed up and tried to captivate Ash, but he ignored her pose and told her that breaking into someone’s home was wrong.

Erika visited Ash at the shop, where a bandaged finger and a question about his opinion of her led to an unexpectedly sincere exchange. Ash admitted he liked her lively, courageous nature, leaving Erika flustered before he put her to work.

• Ash noticed Erika had cut her finger, treated it with medicine, and bandaged it after she discarded two Enhancement Device Units.
• Erika asked Ash what he thought of her, and he reflected on how he viewed her and the other girls.
• Ash called Erika a brat and listed her flaws, then praised her courage, cheerfulness, and support for Rei and Itsuki.
• Ash told Erika that he liked her type, and she blushed and accused him of trying to trick her.
• Erika forgot why she had come, and Ash handed her a broom and asked her to help him.

Ash tested Erika’s Pretty Cure energy as a way to balance the Dune Stamp’s power, then told her he loved her as his goddess of luck, leaving Erika unable to sleep and convinced she had fallen for him. The next day, her exhaustion made her nearly useless in battle, and Ash injured her before treating her at the café.

• Ash asked Erika what to do with power that was too outstanding to use, and her suggestion to balance it with sugar led him to test Pretty Cure energy against the Dune Stamp.
• Ash celebrated the promising test results by spinning Erika around and telling her he loved her, leaving her so flustered that she spent the night imagining his confession.
• Erika told Rei that she thought she liked someone, then apologized to Rei without explaining further.
• The next day, Erika repeatedly fell asleep during the fight against Timons, so Ash transformed and struck her with a Demons Finish.
• Ash treated Erika’s injury at the café while she complained that the medicine hurt.

After Erika confronted Ash about his teasing and admitted she wanted comfort, he hugged her and reflected on his behavior. Erika sensed he was hiding a burden and promised to protect him, stirring a powerful sense of déjà vu in Ash.

• Ash scolded Erika for letting her guard down in battle, and she blushed while confronting him about noticing her feelings.
• Erika told Ash that his teasing and attention toward others had made her worry about what he really felt.
• Ash began to say he would stop teasing the Pretty Cure for their own growth, but Erika clarified that she wanted to be spoiled and hugged.
• Ash embraced Erika, and she relaxed, laughed with him, and asked why he wanted the Pretty Cure to keep growing stronger.
• Erika called Ash a liar, recognized that he was carrying a hidden burden, and promised to protect him.
• Erika's promise reminded Ash of friends from his past and shook the emotional resolve he had guarded.

Rei and Erika's shared feelings for Ash drove them into a painful confrontation, and they declared their friendship over. The chapter ended with Eddie arriving at Nasta Café, still evading police and unable to pay for coffee.

• Rei entered Nasta Café and saw Erika embracing Ash, leaving her devastated.
• Cure Blossom and Cure Marine fought the Desertrian with unusual aggression and refused to use a combined finishing move.
• Rei and Erika silently avoided each other at the café while Ash chose not to interfere.
• On the rooftop, Erika admitted she was serious about liking Ash, and Rei accused her of betraying their friendship.
• Erika argued that Rei had not acted on her feelings, and Rei tearfully declared that they were through.
• Eddie entered the café after escaping the police and asked Ash for coffee, then admitted he had no money.

Ash encouraged Eddie to pursue small acts of heroism, then went to the Desert Apostles’ base, where Shaback told him Lord Dune would soon return. Ash defended his bond with Dark Precure and challenged Shaback to consider her needs before he began banging on the faulty communications machine.

• Ash suggested Eddie visit the botanical garden, then left after receiving a call despite Yuri and Itsuki’s concerns about Pretty Cure’s conflict.
• Ash met Dark Precure, joked about their partnership, and urged her to think for herself instead of blindly following orders.
• Shaback told Ash that Lord Dune wished to see him and that Dune was no longer far from Earth.
• Shaback questioned Ash’s intentions toward Dark Precure and threatened to eliminate him if he endangered her role against Pretty Cure.
• Ash told Shaback that he had shown Dark Precure friendship and experiences beyond fighting, then questioned whether Shaback treated her only as a weapon.
• Shaback offered to repair Ash’s gun, but Ash began striking the faulty communications machine to improve its signal.

Ash confronted Dune, the Desert King, and absorbed part of his dark power with the system’s help, turning the excess energy into a new seal. He claimed the Pretty Cure as his prey and warned Dune not to touch them, leaving Dune laughing at Ash’s defiance.

• Ash met Dune through the machine’s screen and claimed he wanted to join the Desert Apostles to avoid being destroyed with Earth.
• Dune sent dark power through the screen to test Ash, and Ash grabbed it and allowed it to enter his body.
• Dune recounted destroying worlds and said he planned to return to Earth to defeat and torture Cure Flower.
• Ash used the system to absorb part of Dune’s power as Dark Echo and sealed the excess energy into a new form.
• Ash warned Dune that the current Precure were his prey and that he would not forgive Dune for interfering.
• Dune laughed at Ash’s arrogance and called him a mere human who seemed more like a demon than himself.

Ash created a specialized Desertrian to force Itsuki, Rei, and Erika into a fight, deliberately shattering Itsuki’s trust and trapping Rei and Erika in unbreakable domes. The chapter ended with Ash approaching Itsuki while the other two remained imprisoned.

• Itsuki told Ash that Rei and Erika were still at odds, and Ash reassured her that they would make up before preparing a plan with Spider Gagi.
• Ash and Spider Gagi attacked a bystander, took their Heart Flower, and used Ash’s device to create a Desertrian with dome-shaped arms.
• Itsuki confronted Ash, but he fired near her and insisted that he was a villain, breaking her trust and prompting the three girls to transform into Precure.
• The Desertrian trapped Rei and Erika inside separate domes while Itsuki escaped the attack.
• Ash taunted Rei and Erika through their domes, then advanced on Itsuki and announced that they would fight two against one.

Ash and Spider Gagi fought Itsuki while Ash provoked her into anger, then defeated her with a coordinated attack. Trapped with Itsuki in danger, Erika and Rei tried to use Fortissimo, but Shiffre and Coffret revealed their hearts were not in harmony.

• Ash distracted Itsuki by complimenting her outfit, stole the Shiny Tambourine, and challenged her to fight seriously.
• Itsuki battled Ash and Spider Gagi, growing stronger with anger but leaving herself open to their attacks.
• Ash struck Itsuki in the abdomen and told her she would have to become stronger in a world beyond kids' shows.
• Erika and Rei tried their attacks and Fortissimo against the barrier trapping them, but nothing worked.
• Shiffre and Coffret told Erika and Rei that they could not use their combined technique because their hearts were not in harmony.

Rei and Erika reconciled after their argument left them unable to help Itsuki, whom Timons and Spider Gagi brutally overwhelmed. Renewed as partners, the two Pretty Cure prepared to break free and help their companions.

• Ash trapped Itsuki in Spider Gagi's webs and battered her until Rei and Erika arrived and laid her unconscious body on the ground.
• Rei and Erika argued inside the enclosure while Itsuki fought outside, then cried together after a black curtain blocked them from seeing or hearing the battle clearly.
• Rei praised Erika for worrying about everyone, and Erika comforted Rei as she confessed her insecurity and admitted her feelings for Manager Ash.
• Rei and Erika affirmed that their love and their Pretty Cure mission both mattered, then picked up their magic wands and joined hands as pink and blue auras surrounded them.

Blossom and Marine reconciled and defeated Ash with their combined Pretty Cure attack, after which Itsuki treated his injuries and struggled with her feelings about Timons. Ash found a mysterious ring that fit his ring finger, and Yuri noticed it at the end of their conversation.

• Blossom and Marine reunited, combined their powers, and launched Pretty Cure Floral Power Fortissimo at Ash, who welcomed the attack.
• Ash blamed his injuries on Timons, and Itsuki treated him before leaving in sorrow when he asked why she looked sad.
• Ash discovered a wooden ring with gold paint in his inventory, found that it fit his ring finger, and received no useful explanation from the system panel.
• Yuri visited Ash, exchanged teasing remarks with him, and noticed the ring on his finger.

Tsukikage Yuri mistook Ash’s ring for proof that he was dating someone and fled after confronting him about his priorities. Their argument ended with Yuri telling Ash that she hated him for not understanding her feelings and for being willing to leave them behind.

• Yuri noticed Ash’s ring and, after seeing how happy he was, concluded that another woman was in his life.
• Ash explained that the ring was only an accessory and said he was happy because he could encourage Rei and Erika to grow stronger.
• Yuri left the café, then confronted Ash about being injured and receiving comfort from other women.
• Ash enthusiastically described how fulfilling it was to help the woman he encouraged grow stronger, while Yuri asked why their life together at Nasta Café was not enough for him.
• Yuri accused Ash of caring only about what made him happy and declared that she hated him for not understanding people’s hearts and for casually throwing them away.
• Yuri ran off, leaving Ash stunned by her outburst.

Tsukikage Yuri encountered an Imagin offering to grant any wish, while Erika, Rei, and Itsuki were possessed by Imagin and transformed into strange personalities. Ash recognized the Imagin and confiscated Rei’s belt, just as more familiar voices approached.

• Tsukikage Yuri met an Imagin that offered to grant her any wish in exchange for a price.
• Rei and Erika found a grotesque sand monster that introduced itself as an Imagin, but Itsuki defeated it before it could finish explaining its offer.
• Blue and other colored balls of light possessed Itsuki, Erika, and Rei, giving them bizarre appearances and personalities.
• Rei fled to Ash for help, and Ash realized that the events resembled Den-O and that a time train had arrived.
• A red ball of light possessed Rei, who attacked Ash; he restrained her and confiscated the belt she pulled out.
• Several familiar voices called out to Ash as he confronted the possessed Rei.