Pretty Cure Prescribed for YTV

YTV in Canada has inked a broadcast licensing agreement with Toei Animation Inc. for the first season of the popular anime series Pretty Cure. The show about young girls who strike up a friendship with magical beings from another realm will launch on the Corus Ent.-owned network in the first quarter of 2009.

Pretty Cure revolves around Nagisa and Honoka, eighth graders at the Verone Junior High School for girls, who encounter two mysterious creatures that came down from the sky one night. Named Mepple and Mipple, the creatures fled their homeland, known as the Field of Light, in order to escape an attack by the evil forces of Dotsuku Zone. They grant Nagisa and Honoka the power to transform into superheroes dubbed ‘Cure Black’ and ‘Cure White,’ who may be our planet’s only hope in battling the evil Dotsuku Zone.

Toei recently released the feature-length movie animated Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Go Go!, which opened at No. 2 at the box office in Japan. The latest big-screen installment in the popular girls’ fantasy franchise opened nationwide on Nov. 8 and reportedly raked in $1.6 million in its first two days in theaters. Episodes of Pretty Cure and other Toei anime series can be downloaded for $1.99 each at www.crunchyroll.com.