Synopsis: Nono Hana in the bad future timeline is one of the most tragic Pretty Cures ever. And the lives of Saaya, Homare and Emiru all somehow tied to her well-being.

Author Note: My native tongue is not English, so please tolerate my language when it is broken. Constructive criticism is welcome.

Part 0: How do the Timelines Work?

Since we have time travel in HUGtto Pretty Cure, it can leave a significant mark on how the timelines play out. This is a base assumption we need to establish before starting this analysis.

It is easy to establish that time travelling to the past does create a new timeline, branching off the current timeline at the moment the time traveller arrives. Take Hugtan's arrival in ep. 1 for example, this created a different timeline, one of which Nono Hana ended up surviving to the future.

It is also easy to establish that time travelling to the future does not create a new timeline. The time traveller disappears from the current timeline and reappears some time later. This is demonstrated in ep. 49 epilogue, when we are shown that both a newborn Hugtan and Cure Tomorrow can share the same world.

Given the story, we have two timelines to deal with here: the bad future timeline as described by George in various episodes, and the good future timeline the show follows. For people and events in the bad future timeline, I am going to use "BE!" prefix. Similarly "GE!" for good future timeline.

Part 1: Without the mascots and PreHeart, was BE!Hana a Pretty Cure?

Yes.

As we all know, along with the luggage of a time travelling Hugtan and Harry are PreHearts, the transformation trinket GE!Hana and her team uses. And in ep. 20 it is reaffirmed that PreHeart are built with future technology. Thus for BE!Hana PreHeart does not yet exist. BE!Hana need an alternative transformation trinket.

We do have a Cure in GE timeline that does not have a PreHeart allocated to her initially: Ruru. Reviewing her first transformation in ep. 20, here are the steps:

After the mutual cheering with Emiru filling both with Asu-Power, Mirai Crystals form from each of them. The power of Mother that attached to Hugtan reacted with Ruru's heart, and triggered that deus ex machina sequence that created a PreHeart de novo for Ruru.

This means that in order to be a Cure, one need both adequate Asu-Power in themself to form the Mirai Crystal, and borrow the power of Mother to form the other half of the transformation trinket.

Going back to ep. 1, Harry claims that Hana still have a lot of Asu-Power in her even after part of that power was condensed into her Mirai Crystal and fed to Hugtan. This shows that Hana has enough Asu-Power in her to form her Mirai Crystal regardless of timeline.

In ep. 40, it is established that Cure Tomorrow carries the power of Mother; Cure Tomorrow is Hugtan; and her mother is BE!Hana. Thus, to some extent, Mother is BE!Hana. George described BE!Hana's life as "the Goddess of Freedom that lead the people," agreeing with the presentation of Mother within the show. We can even see GE!Hana displaying her developing potential as Mother, when she triggered a transformation sequence on Henri in ep. 42, and even transformed all the cheering civilians into Cures in ep. 48.

Thus, BE!Hana is a Cure. She has enough Asu-Power in her, and she is Mother. This allows her to become a Cure on her own power. As of her transformation trinket? Melody Sword, in the form of a sword.

Side note: There are two distinct types of Oshimaidas: the ones ordered by Criasu, and the ones formed naturally when someone's Toge-Power overflows as seen in ep. 49. While GE timeline we have the Cures fighting the first type, BE!Hana fights the latter.

Part 2: Was BE!Cure Yell fighting solo?

Again, yes.

GE!Hana claimed that she can fight solo in ep. 2. This comment may be a hint that BE!Hana was a solo warrior.

When Hugtan arrived in GE timeline, there is a sudden time pause that affected everyone except the potential Cures. This event changes the life of Saaya and Homare. Should it not be Criasu chasing Hugtan, Emiru will not meet Ruru and change her life too.

For Saaya, should it not be the time pause she would be chasing down the blown about files of Hana instead of meeting Hana for the first time. Should it not be the cries of Hugtan she would not meet Hana and Hugtan in Beauty Harry. Should it not be taking care of Hugtan she would not make the comment "things I can't do you can, things you can't do I can. We can achieve greatness if we work together." GE!Hana picked Saaya as a Cure candidate for her words of encouragement and her care towards Hugtan. Since all those conditions are missing for BE!Hana and BE!Saaya, it is unlikely that whatever BE!Saaya might do can change BE!Hanas heart.

For Homare, oof. Should it not be the time pause, Homare would have been hit by the truck. Her survival after the collision would be questionable, let alone the "I like your hairstyle" comment that cemented her Cure candidacy. Said collision would also terminate her career as a figure skater prematurely, leaving behind a huge scar in her that terminates her career as a Cure.

For Emiru, her Curehood comes from her interaction with Ruru. Should it not be Hugtan time travelling, Criasu would not follow her along and time travel with Ruru in tow. Thus she would not be motivated to work towards being a Cure.

Thus, simply because of the lack of the time pause brought about by Hugtan landing, there would not be a BE!Cure Ange since Saaya never acquired the trust of Hana; there would not be a BE!Cure Étoile since Homare would be hospitalized and have her dream crushed; there would not be a BE!Cure Macherie since Emiru would never be motivated to be a Cure; and there would not be a BE!Cure Amour since Ruru flat out did not exist by then in he BE timeline. BE!Cure Yell is solo in her endeavor as a Pretty Cure.

Part 3: What happened in BE timeline?

The BE timeline is honestly too dark for a kids show, thus it is only hinted at, and the hints are scattered all across the show. Thus only episode references are provided instead of synopsis of each occurance. Here is the story.

Oshimaidas start to appear when people start to overflow with Toge-Power. BE!Hana became Pretty Cure to fight them. Ref. Part 1 of this theory.

Without Saaya, Homare and Emiru, BE!Cure Yell is fighting solo. Ref. Part 2 of this theory and ep. 11.

A young adult BE!Hana started AA Inc, hired Traum for its R&D department, met George, fell in love, married and gave birth to BE!Hugtan. This might be the best moment of BE!Hana's entire life. Ref. ep. 49.

It is impossible to eliminate darkness from humans. While BE!Cure Yell is powerful to save the world from despair multiple times, she gradually lost the support of the civilians and died. Ref. ep. 47.

George fell into deep despair from the loss of his wife. Traum fell into despair from the loss of her daughter. George who took over AA Inc after BE!Hana's death renamed it Criasu and directed Traum to research on time stopping. Ref. compare the business buildings of AA Inc in ep. 49 and Criasu in ep. 1.

On the condition of treating the spreading disease of harihams, Criasu experimented on Harry, Bishin and Listol. Then the habitat of the harihams are burnt down. Ref. ep. 39 and 40.

Hugtan grew up, picked the white Mirai Crystal that has Mother's power in it, and became Cure Tomorrow. However even with the original Melody Sword, Tomorrow and her three teammates were still defeated at the hands of Criasu. Her team members were trapped in the time stop, while Tomorrow was caged. Ref. ep. 40.

Harry, who was saved by Tomorrow for once, decided to make a run for it with Tomorrow. Hugtan prayed for help from Mother, who sent them to a time before Hana even became a Pretty Cure, initiating the GE timeline, and triggered the time pause in said timeline. Ref. ep. 1 and 40.

The story of HUGtto Pretty Cure follows.

Closing Comments

BE!Hana should have discovered that the power of a solo fighter is limited, and the darkness in humans is inevitable. Her sending Hugtan back as Mother is her atoning for this mistake. GE!Hana is not a solo warrior — she have the support of her teammates, frends, family and even the general civilians. She also chose not to use her Melody Sword as a deadly weapon like a sword but a baton, showing GE!Hana's willingness to accept the darkness and seek the balance instead of outright banishing the darkness. This change of heart started the flow of time in the good future.

While it is not Hana herself, there is a nice mirror to the plight of BE!Hana in ep. 24 from Emiru and Ruru. Even without transforming, with just a happy song pumping them, the civilians generated more than enough Asu-Power to drive away the miasma from the Mou-Oshimaida.

Authorship Note: While this article is written by myself, the bulk of the theories comes from other sources, especially this Chinese forum post reviewing the series trying to extract information regarding the bad future timeline.

Help needed: How do I remove the excessive amount of whitespace after this post? This is supposed to be a text-only post, and the bulk of it is within a cut.



