Usagi and Umino lookalikes in Doki Doki Pretty Cure

A recent episode of the popular anime series Doki Doki Pretty Cure featured two characters who looked suspiciously similar to Usagi (Sailor Moon) and Umino (Melvin) from Sailor Moon! The girl’s school uniform actually resembles Minako’s outfit more than Usagi’s but the colours are similar and the hair in pig tails is rare enough to make this reference seem intentional. The boy’s large glasses and school uniform are nearly identical to that worn by Umino in the anime. This takes place in episode 44, “Selfish’s Trap! The Christmas Without Mana”, which premiered on December 15th.

The two characters were actually a couple of the series villains Ira and Marmo who were disguising themselves as students in order to connivince the main character Mana that there was a King of Student Councils Contest in order to take her out of the picture and defeat the good guys (or good girls, rather).

Sailor Moon references in Pretty Cure are not unusual. Some would say this entire magical girl series is little more than an elaborate homage to Sailor Moon, but this particular reference is a bit more specific.