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Yuni is the one of the five main characters of Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure who ends her phrases with ~meow. Yuni's alter egos are Blue Cat, the phantom thief and Mao, the space idol. It is later revealed that her true name is "Yuni". She is later able to transform into Cure Cosmo.
She is voiced by Sumire Uesaka who also voiced Sanae Dekomori, Mai Kawakami, Luna and ChuChu.
Appearance
Yuni resembles a humanoid cat with cream-colored fur. Her hair is still dodger blue, but is styled differently with giant rounded twin tails with golden rings at each end as well as black and white cat ears. Her eyes are shaped slightly differently and she also has a dark brown nose and twin white whiskers. She wears a navy blue bodysuit with a white rounded collar lined with pink and a rainbow-colored brooch. Attached to the bodysuit are puffy white and pink shorts with her black tail jutting out. Her bracelets are thick and gold with blue arm warmers attached and her shoes are white and blue with thick gold anklets.
As Mao, she has lavender magenta-colored hair that just reaches her shoulders. On her head are two pale pink balls of cloth that are tied onto her head with yellow beads. Her eye color is lime green and on her ears are gold earrings. Her outfit is mainly pink, with a white-collar that has a giant magenta bow attached to it. On the center of the bow is a gold bell. On the front of her shirt are two gold buttons, and she wears a blue belt around her waist. Her skirt is separated into two colors; pink and white with two layers underneath: a pale blue layer with a frilly pale yellow layer underneath that. She wears yellow beads on her arms, and white gloves as well as blue boots with a white frilly top that has yellow beads. She also has a black cat tail with a large pink bow attached to it by a gold band.
As Blue Cat, her hair turns dodger blue and is tied into braids by a gold tie. She wears a dark blue top hat with a pale blue and black pattern near the rim. She also wears giant blue glasses with light pink frames that hide her light orange eyes and a dark blue choker with a gold pendant. Her outfit is a dark blue tailcoat with a white collar and layer underneath. Her skirt is pleated and blue. She wears white gloves that reach her shoulders with blue gloves that reach her wrists on top. Her boots are blue and her thigh high socks are white. Her cat tail is black. Underneath her hat is a pair of black and white cat ears. Yuni retains this outfit in her human form, minus the hat and the glasses.
As Cure Cosmo, her hair grows longer and becomes a lighter shade of blue with magenta streaks along the twin tails. The ends are curled upward and held on each side with a large yellow triangular clasp. She also has two triangle-shaped hair clips on each side of her head, along with a small blue top hat with a star-shaped rainbow jewel on the right side. Her cat ears are black and slightly rounded with white fur tufts inside. Her eyes become light orange. The bodice of her dress is dark blue with a white rounded collar and a white insert with two golden buttons in the middle of it along with a light pink translucent cape. At the top of her chest is her Star Color Pendant. The top of her skirt is lined with white fur and the pleats of the skirt are each a different color of the rainbow. There is also a white scalloped layer and a longer light pink and translucent scalloped layer. Around her neck is a black choker with a round gold pendant along with triangular earrings. She also wears dark blue opera-length gloves and dark blue knee-length boots, both lined with white fur. There are gold star designs on the lower part of her gloves and yellow triangles jutting from the lower part of her boots. Her black cat tail has a light blue ring around the end of it.
Personality
As Mao, she is very friendly and acts cutesy towards others. As it later turns out, it was merely an act she puts on to conceal her true identity as a thief.
As Blue Cat, she is shown to be cunning by using the bright fireworks to make her break with the Princess Star Color Pen and Madoka's plan to use the star donuts as bargaining chips to win the pen at the Auction. According to Lala, she always gets what she seeks.
Putting her aliases aside, Yuni tends to prefer being a lone wolf and generally holds a strong responsibility for herself mainly rooted from the guilt she has of being unable to save her planet Rainbow, rejecting her friends' kind offers and assistance in the beginning and blaming herself when she fails to accomplish her goals, but she gradually warms up around them as the series goes on. Owing to her past career as Blue Cat, she has a bad habit of stealing as demonstrated in episode 22. Despite all this, Yuni is still kindhearted, and she will still help and rescue the needy whether her foes or friends, as seen in episode 21 and episode 23, when she as Cosmo purified Aiwarn and rescued Fuwa respectively. In episode 24, it is shown that she has a passion for singing, which can explain why she sometimes takes in her space idol alias Mao.
Despite being a major heroine, Yuni is overall a morally gray character: on one hand she is learning to be heroic enough to save the universe and cares for her friends, but on the other hand she still thieves for the plundered treasures of Planet Rainbow. She has a habit of teasing people too, particularly Mary Ann the assistant inspector of the police department.
History
Pre-series
Before the course of the series, Yuni used to live on Planet Rainbow peacefully with Queen Ophilio and the rest of her kind. However, everything turned upside down when Aiwarn invaded her home planet and as the Dark Pen which Aiwarn experimented ended up going out of control, its disastrous effects caused every inhabitant to become petrified and Planet Rainbow ravaged as a result. Yuni, being persuaded by Queen Ophilio to escape on her own, was the only survivor of the tragedy who witnessed her home planet being corrupted, and since then she resolutely went under three aliases: Bakenyan as an undercover among the Notraiders, Mao as a renowned space idol star, and Blue Cat the phantom thief who aimed to thieve the Star Color Pens, all because she hopes to resurrect her destroyed planet by learning the Notraiders' intel and hopefully using the Pens' magical powers, as well as to retrieve the plundered treasures.
First Appearance
Mao first appears in episode 15, when Doramusu tells her it is time to go to the auction. There, she realizes Prunce is a fan of her music, so she uses her cuteness to persuade Doramusu in letting Prunce and the girls into the auction as well. To which she gives the girls, Fuwa and Prunce fancy-looking outfits so they can fit in with the rest of people going to the auction. She then leaves to get ready for her performance, which she puts on right before the auction begins. Once done, she disappears. After stealing the Princess Star Color Pen that was being auctioned, she is found by the Cures thanks to Madoka's Star Color Pendant. She decides to reveal to the Cures that she is indeed Blue Cat but soon after, Aiwarn appears. She tells the Cures to transform and then tries to make her escape. However, Selene chases after her, leading to her having a one on one with Selene. Once realizing the other three Cures are struggling against Aiwarn's Nottoriga, and that Aiwarn hasn't changed at all since she last saw her, Blue Cat gives Selene the Princess Star Color Pen to defeat the Nottoriga. Once the battle is over, Blue Cat leaves without taking back the Princess Star Color Pen.
Stealing Fuwa and the Princess Star Color Pens
On Planet Rainbow, after revealing she was Bakenyan and having helped the Cures defeat Aiwarn, she listens to Hikaru say they'll help her revive Planet Rainbow. However, Blue Cat preferred she'd do it on her own, so she chucks a smoke bomb at Hikaru and the others. While they struggle to see, she steals Fuwa and all of their Princess Star Color Pens and takes off.
Blue Cat's Real Form
With Fuwa in her posession, she goes back to her cave to look at Oliphio and the other citizens, muttering to herself that now she's one step closer to reviving the planet. But then Fuwa wakes up hungry, so she tells her about the Rainbow Ore since she has nothing to give her. Just as she finishes up and is about to take off from the planet, the Cures appear and she is forced to engage into battle with them. She manages to outwit them by disgusing herself as Cure Star, however during a confrontation with Star, her smokebomb flies into Oliphio causing Blue Cat to panic and change her appearance. She turns around to face the Cures, showing her true appearance which surprises them, so she tells them about her origins.
Becoming Cure Cosmo and Saving Aiwarn
Blue Cat decides to assist the Cures as they fight Aiwarn because she was the one Aiwarn was mad over. But she is also confused over why the Cures insist on fighting for her despite being no match for Aiwarn. Listening to Star's words, Blue Cat grows even more confused as she watches the Cures continue to fight to the point that they de-transform. With no other choice, Blue Cat steps in between the Cures and Aiwarn, declaring that she wants to save them which has Fuwa grant her a Star Color Pendant and Star Color Pen. Taking the two items, Blue Cat transforms into Cure Cosmo and begins her first ever battle with Aiwarn. She manages to defeat Aiwarn but only for a short while before Darknest appeared and started to give Aiwarn overwhelming strength. Seeing the pain Aiwarn was in, Cosmo watches unsure of what to do as Star's attack with the Aries Star Princess Color Pen fails to help Aiwarn. So she and Star work together in hopes they'd be able to do something but nothing works. With Aiwarn about to hurt a wounded Star, Cosmo comes in to stop Aiwarn which in turn grants her the Rainbow Perfume, which she uses to finally purifiy Aiwarn.
Bonding with the Cures
Since her spaceship got stolen by the recovered Aiwarn, Yuni has no choice but to board on the rocket and head to Earth with the other Cures. There, she drops her phantom thief persona and reveals her true name.
Although she was in friendly terms with the other Cures, Yuni doesn’t seem fond of interacting with them publicly and chooses to keep to herself, since she hasn’t overcome her trust issues. Also, during her first mission on Earth when she has to purify Hikaru's grandfather with her thieving instinct intact, she steals Milky’s Gemini Pen to perform Rainbow Splash by stating that she is merely borrowing it.
Yuni later is being warmly welcomed by the rest of the Cures who organize a feast party for her, but she accidentally lets Fuwa eat the cookie originated from her planet, which leads to Fuwa hiccuping and multiplying as a result. Yuni is guilt-ridden for causing the disastrous outcome, but later gets reassured by Elena who advises her to share her responsibility with others. She then helps her friends with feeding the Fuwa clones easier by transforming into Mao in order to distract the other townspeople. Despite failing to defeat Kappard on her first attempt after the former captures Fuwa, she later listens to Soleil's advice and chooses to cooperate with her as Cosmo. After Fuwa is saved, Yuni slowly warms up to her friends who hold a replacement welcome event for her through sharing a piece of remaining star-shaped doughnut with one another, though her hesitation on putting her own portion with her friends' divided doughnut pieces hints that she still retains doubt.
In episode 24, Yuni started to open up a bit more to her friends, taking the first step by singing in front of them as a way to help Madoka feel better about performing. As Cosmo, she helped Selene purify Irma by using Rainbow Splash.
In episode 25, Yuni was invited by her friends to celebrate the annual Star Festival, which she reluctantly attends after Hikaru continuously insists that she should participate with them. During the course of the festival, her interest waned after feeling left out amid the group of excited participants because of how Sakurako Himenojou, who considers her a rival, and Tatsunori Karube, who mistakes her as a transfer student and gives her a nickname she dislikes, don't make her feel welcomed. As the joy of the festival reminded her of the similar equivalent she used to enjoy with Queen Olyfio on her home planet, which wounded her feelings, she dejectedly walks away. Lala tries to reassure her by offering her candy and advising her not to jump into conclusions before giving things a try when she questions Lala's reason on bonding with Earthlings (Earth people), though she still chose to leave Lala alone since she is still determined to put her planet's priority first on her own. When she nearly gets defeated during her battle with Tenjo thanks to the giant Nottorei being boosted by Darknest's power, her friends arrive to rescue and aid her, and they even defend her from Tenjo's humiliation. She tells them to attack the main Nottorei as a strategy, and with their help she is able to attack it with Cosmo Shining before the four assist her with their finishing blow Southern Cross Shot. They later watch the fireworks on top of the rocket, and Yuni forms a new memory of happiness regarding the Star Festival.
Relationships
- Aiwarn - As Blue Cat, Mao seems to know Aiwarn from some time in the past remarking that she hasn't changed. It is revealed in episode 19 that Blue Cat disguised herself and became Bakenyan in order to get closer to Aiwarn and learn why she attacked her planet, Rainbow, and turned most of its people to stone. She also wanted to try and get a hold of any Princess Star Color Pen she had so she could have them for herself and save her planet. However, despite her hatred toward Aiwarn for what she had done, Cosmo still purifies Aiwarn after her mind was completely taken over by Darknest.
- Prunce - By her music, Prunce was able to regain the determination to find the Pretty Cure. He became a big fan of hers but later had a change of heart after finding out that she was the space thief and was only using him and the Pretty Cure to steal the Star Color Pen. In episode 17, knowing about Prunce's adoration of Mao, Blue Cat briefly changes back into her to get him to help destroy a laser machine.
- Fuwa - In the beginning, Blue Cat merely regards Fuwa as a source for reviving her planet. But she gradually forms a bond with the friendly alien fairy after telling the latter about the Rainbow Ore. It is her bond with Fuwa that motivates her to protect the latter who grants her the power to become Cure Cosmo in return during episode 20.
- Olyfio - In multiple flashbacks, it is strongly indicated that Yuni has a massive admiration for Queen Olyfio, such as remembering how Olyfio complimented her singing and rejoiced at the annual festival of her Planet Rainbow, so she was extremely saddened when Olyfio insisted her to escape alone. Judging by how Yuni describes Olyfio as both the mother and father of her kind and regards herself as one of the children of Olyfio, she might be projecting Olyfio as a mother figure.
- Mary Ann - Although aware that Mary Ann is being assigned by the police department to arrest her, Yuni isn’t troubled by the possibility of being arrested by the former and instead has fun teasing and tricking Mary Ann who is vulnerable to her cunningness due to being clumsy and gullible.
Alias
Mao
Mao (マオ?) is Yuni's space idol persona. She became Mao to get information from other planets about Rainbow and whether or not they have any of its plundered treasure. In this persona, her voice is higher-pitched than normal. The Cures encounter Yuni for the first time while disguised as Mao in episode 15.
Blue Cat
Blue Cat (ブルーキャット?) is Yuni's phantom thief persona. With a spray of her cat perfume, Yuni is able to easily disguise herself as Blue Cat or as other people. Blue Cat also has the ability to commit thefts rapidly and stealthily without anyone noticing.
Cure Cosmo
Cure Cosmo
銀河に光る虹色のスペクトル！キュアコスモ！
Ginga ni hikaru nijiiro no supekutoru! Kyua Kosumo!
Cure Cosmo (キュアコスモ?) is the Pretty Cure alter ego of Yuni. In order to transform, she needs the Star Color Pendant and her Star Color Pen. Her weapon is the Rainbow Perfume.
Transformation
- Color Charge!: Yuni's pendant top pops up, allowing Yuni to insert her Star Color Pen. She shouts the phrase as her hair clips disappear and she draws a triangle. Before her transformation starts, her aliases, Bakenyan, Mao, Blue Cat, and her alien form are quickly shown in the rainbow-colored backdrop.Yuni then spins around as four triangles made of light appear and fly off. After Yuni flashes a V-sign over her eye, two of the triangles hit her arms first to form stars on the front side of her wrists, and the other two hit her legs and travel upward, forming her boots. She then touches the center of the pendant again, causing two more triangles to appear, eventually forming her gloves and dress. Yuni then dances around before tapping the pleats of her skirt with her pen, each of them colored differently. She then forms the ring around her tail before drawing on her choker, earrings, and hat as her hair grows longer and lighter. She presses her pen to her pendant one last time as the cord disappears and attaches to her dress. She then draws another star that shoots across the sky before landing on her hat. She stops singing and introduces herself before striking a pose.
Attacks
- Cosmo Shining (コスモシャイニング?) is an attack Cosmo can perform as long as she has her Rainbow Perfume.
- Rainbow Splash (レインボースプラッシュ) is another attack that Cosmo can perform as long as she has her Rainbow Perfume and a Princess Star Color Pen.
- Star Twinkle Imagination (スタートゥインクルイマジネーション): An attack Cosmo performs alongside Cure Star, Cure Milky, Cure Soleil and Cure Selene. To perform it, she needs Unicorn Fuwa and her Twinkle Style.
Etymology
Mao (マオ?) is most likely from the Chinese word Mao (猫, Māo?) which means cat.
Blue Cat are combined words: Blue meaning "of the color whose hue is that of the color blue", while Cat means "a carnivorous mammal long domesticated as a pet and for catching rats and mice". Otherwise, it comes from both her color scheme and her feline theme.
Yuni (ユニ) is likely the short form of "universe".
Songs
Yuni's voice actor, Sumire Uesaka, has participated in an image song for the character she voices. Many of them include duets with Eimi Naruse, who voices Hikaru Hoshina, Konomi Kohara, who voices Lala Hagoromo, Kiyono Yasuno, who voices Elena Amamiya, and Mikako Komatsu, who voices Madoka Kaguya.
- Cosmic☆Mystery☆Girl
- Prism Rainbow Heart
Duets
- Color Charge! (Along with Eimi Naruse, Konomi Kohara, Kiyono Yasuno and Mikako Komatsu)
- Sparkle☆彡Star☆Twinkle Pretty Cure (5 PRECURE Ver.) (Along with Eimi Naruse, Konomi Kohara, Kiyono Yasuno and Mikako Komatsu)
- Twinkle Stars (Along with Eimi Naruse, Konomi Kohara, Kiyono Yasuno and Mikako Komatsu
Trivia
- As Mao, she shares her name with Sagara Mao and Ogasawara Mao.
- She shares her voice actress with the Virgo Star Princess.
- Her birthday is on October 11th, making her zodiac sign Libra.
- She is also the first Pretty Cure to have an animalistic human form.
- Episode 19 and episode 20 reveal that her perfume is a tool that can stabilize her form changes not only between her aliases, but also her animal and human form. However, it is unable to change her scent, which Fuwa picks up on and causes her to reveal that Bakenyan was one of her personas.
- Episode 25 hints that she doesn't like being referred by nicknames.
- Due to being a feline alien, she tends to instinctively try to catch fishes upon seeing them, and won’t snap back to her senses until her friends remind her.
- In episode 35, she seems to bond well with Earth cats since she is a space feline herself.
