| Shimizu Akira 清水 明 Shimizu Akira | |
|---|---|
| |
| Description | |
| Season | Olympus Pretty Cure |
| Age | 14 |
| Zodiac | Pisces/Dog |
| Gender | Female |
| Eye Color | Magenta (Akira)
Lavender rose (Cure Neptune) |
| Hair Color | Dark violet (Akira)
Wisteria (Cure Neptune) |
| Blood Type | Type A |
| Home Place | Tennenseki |
| Relatives | Shimizu Manami (mother) Shimizu Ikki (father, M.I.A.) |
| First Appearance | OPC01 |
| Alter Ego | Cure Neptune |
| Theme Color | Amethyst (main)
Lavender rose (sub) |
| Japanese Voice Actor | Fujita Saki |
Shimizu Akira (紫水 明 Shimizu Akira) is the lead Cure in Olympus Pretty Cure. A second-year student and member of Seibara Middle School's art club, Akira is intuitive, rational, serene and always willing to help, yet extremely sensitive as well. Her alter ego is Cure Neptune (キュアネプチューン Kyua Nepuchūn). Her catchphrase is "Don't give this up so easily!" (そう簡単にあきらめないで！ Sō kantan ni akiramenaide!), which she tends to use as encouragement words for herself or for others, or as a limit phrase, when she's particularly angry -- in the latter case, it's rendered as "I'm not giving this up so easily!" (私はそう簡単にあきらめない！ Watashi wa sō kantan ni akiramenai!)
Appearance
Akira has long dark violet hair tied into a thin ponytail by a small neon pink ribbon and magenta eyes. She prefers to wear bright pink or purple clothes, her normal outfit consisting of a tight rose colored turtleneck sweater, lavender capris going past her knees, white socks and purple shoes.
She wears her school uniform in a proper manner, her blazer closed and black cravat fastened. In contrast to Miwa's looseness. She wears a school-issued blue vest in the summertime.
As Cure Neptune, her hair turns wisteria purple and grows to her shins, fastened into a fin-like ponytail by two amethyst clips and a rose pink diadem appears on top of her head. She wears a Greco-Roman inspired outfit with a lavender breastplate with a conch shell crest on top, and a purple tunic with a pink skirt underneath. She has protective pads on her knees and elbows, with both fastened with amethyst stones. She also wears purple high heel boots. Her Zodiac Sundial manifests as a belt buckle along the waist.
Personality
Although fairly reclusive, often found alone at a corner drawing, Akira is actually quite a friendly person, kind, caring and compassionate, willing to lend a hand to anyone in need, regardless of whether she actually knows who she's trying to help. Intelligent and rational, she is sometimes prone to relying on her intuition when the situation looks tough. She also tends to act like a worrywart on occasion, putting more thought than necessary on the current subject, the complete opposite of the carefree Miwa.
She tends to get good grades at school and is a skilled artist, but is also incredibly humble, becoming flustered whenever she's complimented. Despite her usually soft-spoken demeanor, she is very sensitive and short-tempered, getting frustrated easily and raising her voice when angry -- this is particularly so if she sees any innocent people being harmed.
Her favorite subjects are Art and Modern Japanese Literature and her least favorite is Home Economics. Her favorite foods are baked shellfish, shrimp tempura, and grilled fish.
History
Childhood
Becoming Cure Neptune
Relationships
Kaneda Miwa - After the two become Pretty Cure, they end up spending a lot of time with one another despite their club activities, usually during lunchtime. They quickly become close friends, with Akira acting like a stern big sister who has to remind Miwa to take school seriously and does her best in curbing her impulses.
Triton - Much like Miwa, Akira often scolds her fairy partner for his carefree attitude, but nonetheless turns to him when she needs advice. He often tells her lighten up and not be so flustered toward everything.
Kuwakubo Michie - The two of them have known each other from late elementary school, with Akira admiring Michie's painting techniques and her family's history as artists. The two of them often collaborate in major projects, with Akira sketching objects and Michie painting them. Akira however is the victim of Michie's favoritism and her clubmates subsequent resentment.
Hirai Shinya - Akira has known him since his family moved Tennenseki when they were in the fifth grade of elementary school. Shinya proved himself to be rather charismatic, with Akira falling for him almost instantly. She worked up the nerve to confess her feelings toward him, and entered a relationship the following year. Upon entering middle school however, she became heartbroken by his lechery toward other girls. Akira still shows heavy vitriol toward him, especially when they were assigned the same homeroom at the beginning of the school year.
Emoto Chihaya - Akira's longest known childhood friend, they were always classmates throughout elementary school, until they entered different middle schools. Akira was never able to keep secrets from her, especially when she deduces her identity as Cure Neptune.
Shimizu Azusa - Akira tries to be a good sister to her, but Azusa is put off by her introversion and mood swings.
Shimizu Manami - Akira offers her artistic expertise when helping her mother create jewelry. Whenever she is asked about her husband's disappearance, she can only offer the bare minimum of information.
Shimizu Ikki - Akira looked up to her father, and often pretended to be a sailor herself when she was in kindergarten, even wanting to be one when she grew up. After his disappearance however, she gradually become insecure and reclusive without him giving her any confidence.
Cure Neptune
"Guided by Poseidon, the star of creativity! Cure Neptune!"
ポセイドンに導かれ、創造性の星！キュアネプチューン！
Poseidon ni Michibikare, Sōzōsei no Hoshi! Kyua Nepuchūn!
Cure Neptune (キュアネプチューン Kyua Nepuchūn) is Akira's Pretty Cure alter ego, powered by the Amethyst Horoscorb. In this form, like other Pretty Cures, she possesses powered-up strength, speed, and healing factor, with her agility being her strongest suit. Unlike other Pretty Cure duos, Akira does not need to be together with her partner, Miwa, to transform. Cure Neptune represents the star sign of Pisces, and her element is water. Her primary finishing attack is Amethyst Tide, and she is also able to perform Olympic Tourbillon with Cure Venus.
Etymology
Shimizu (紫水): Shi (紫), more commonly spelled as Murasaki, means "purple", which her theme color is a shade of, while Mizu (水) means "water", her element.
Akira (明): Means "bright, brilliant" or "clear".
Her full name, when put together, means "brilliance of the purple water", and is also a corruption of "shimizuakira" (紫水晶), meaning "amethyst", alluding to the Amethyst Horoscorb, from which she got her powers.
Cure Neptune: Derived from the homonymous planet, which in turn is named after the homonymous Roman god of the sea and counterpart to Greek god Poseidon. A more expansive look at Neptune's etymology can be found here.
Songs
Akira's voice actress, Fujita Saki, provides her voice in an image song about Akira, released in the image song album Olympus Pretty Cure: Shore Shine Splendid. In the same album, she participates in a duet with Tomatsu Haruka, who voices Miwa.
- Shore Line Shine
Duets
- Odori Futaboshi no Yoru (with Tomatsu Haruka)
Gallery
Trivia
- Despite both characters being water elementals, Akira is unrelated to Cure Shabon's Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star fancharacter, Shimizu Ran, as the "Shi" part of their last names are spelled with different characters.
- Akira is a rare example of a water-elemental Cure that doesn't have blue as her theme color.
- Akira/Cure Neptune is the second fanCure to represent the sign of Pisces, following Hoshizora Ushio/Cure Pisces from Starshine! Pretty ✰ Cure. Both Cures also happen to be water-elementals and have long hair tied in low ponytails resembling fish tails.
- Akira is similar to Mishou Mai, in that they both have purple hair, enjoy artistic pursuits, are calmer and more soft-spoken compared to their respective Pretty Cure partners (Miwa and Saki), and have Cure forms themed after animals. Her personality also earned her comparisons to Hanasaki Tsubomi.
- Akira has the same voice actress as Kotozume Yukari, another purple Cure.