Tachibana Mahiru

''"What I'm really scared of is losing Lucia, and, if it means to protect my best friend, I'll become a Pretty Cure!" — Mahiru, Episode 2''

Tachibana Mahiru (橘真昼 Tachibana Mahiru) is one of the main protagonists of the Rainbow Pretty Cure Trilogy. She is shown to be an extremely beautiful girl who excels in both athletics and academics, but has a bit of a short temper. Her mother runs an accessory shop which she often helps in. Her alter ego is the Pretty Cure of the Orange Rainbow, Cure Arancia (キュアアランシア Kyua Aranshia). Her fairy partner is Amber.

Mahiru has a very straightforward and down-to-earth personality that sharply contrasts with the cheery and optimistic Amagawa Lucia, which is shown that she has a big-sisterly attitude toward her best friend. She can be temperamental at times but normally keeps a cool head. She is often the one to reason with Lucia when she comes up with unreasonable ideas or is acting too childishly.

Becoming Cure Arancia
As Mahiru continued running to Lucia's house, Kumoria suddenly appears in front of her again, and Mahiru steps back. Mahiru recognises Kumoria as the woman who attacked her yesterday, and Kumoria agrees. Just then, Lucia runs up and protects Mahiru from Kumoria. Kumoria then turns a cicada into a Zankokuna, and Mahiru becomes frightened. Lucia then holds up her Rainbow Pen, but Pearl then quickly flies up, reminding Lucia that she can't transform in front of Mahiru, and that the Rainbow Pen would only work now if she (Pearl) lent her power to it. Lucia then turned to Mahiru, and told her to keep a secret, and got Pearl to lend her power to the Rainbow Pen. To Mahiru's shock, Lucia transformed and began fighting the Zankokuna. A little while later, Cure Rose was knocked away by the Zankokuna, and the fairies became scared. Amber, however, flew up to Mahiru and told her to transform, but Mahiru shook her head, saying that she couldn't fight a bug, much less a monster bug. Amber's face turned into a look of pity, and said that although she knew bugs could be terrifying, Cure Rose needed assistance. Mahiru then stood up, and admits that what she's really scared of is losing Lucia, and vows to become Pretty Cure if it means she can protect her best friend. Suddenly, there was a bright orange glow in the sky as the clouds parted, and the light came flying down to Mahiru as it transformed into a Rainbow Pen. Mahiru then grabbed the Rainbow Pen and with it, she transformed into the Pretty Cure of the Orange Rainbow, Cure Arancia!

Personality
Mahiru can be temperamental at times but normally keeps a cool head. She is mature and has an older-sister personality with most, and is also an extremely beautiful girl who looks good wearing anything. Her beauty is said to tug at the hearts of all who lay eyes on her. Great at athletics and academics, Mahiru is a very popular girl with an elegant and refined nature, but it is best not to make her mad. She also has a fear of bugs and insects.

Appearance
Mahiru has tanned skin with orange eyes. She has waist-length red hair tied into a ponytail by a golden band. Her bangs are swept off to the left, and she wears gold hoop earrings. In the first season, her casual outfit consists of an orange dress underneath a denim jacket, and also wears orange high heels. She has a gold bracelet on her left wrist.

Cure Arancia has knee-length orange hair tied back into a ponytail by an orange jewel heart on a golden band, and she wears a gold beaded accessory on her forehead. She wears an orange long sleeved leotard with a white collar that has three orange stripes on it, and an orange skirt, along with a white bow on the chest and at the back, with the back waist bow long. She also wears a pair of orange high heels and gold earrings with a heart dangling from them, as well as an orange choker with a prism heart underneath it. Her transformation pen is kept in a small bag around her waist.

Relationships
Amagawa Lucia - Mahiru's best friend is Lucia, who, although much less popular, never stops being on good terms with her, regardless of how many times Lucia annoys her with strange ideas. They had been friends since childhood.

Cure Arancia
"The orange rainbow is the proof of passion! Cure Arancia!" オレンジの虹は情熱の証！キュアアランシア！ ''Orenji no niji wa jōnetsu no akashi! Kyua Aranshia!''

Cure Arancia (キュアアランシア Kyua Aranshia) is the Pretty Cure of the Orange Rainbow, and Mahiru's alter ego. Mahiru doesn't change much as a Cure, but it is shown that she is more daring and is self-sacrificing, wanting to protect the innocent no matter what. This shows that she utilises the power of passion. Alone, Cure Arancia can perform the attack Orange Colour Shower.

Transformations
"Pretty Cure, Rainbow Power!" - The official phrase Mahiru uses to transform into Cure Arancia.

In Destinies Unfold, Mahiru holds up her hand as a stream of orange hearts swirls around it, alighting on her fingernails and turning them orange. Her Rainbow Pen appears spinning, and as she takes hold of it the Orange Rainbow symbol on the top begins to spin. Mahiru holds the pen in the air as long banners of orange hearts emitted from it and swirled around her body, eventually forming a spiral. The hearts sank into the ground, but then rushed upwards again, completely covering Mahiru's body and creating her outfit. As her forehead tiara appears, her hair begins to glow, then grows longer and changes colour. She then strikes a pose, which causes the pen to appear on her waist with a bag. She then flies down from the sky and lands on her feet, and says her introduction before striking her final pose.

Attacks
Orange Colour Shower - Cure Arancia holds up her Rainbow Pen and summons the power of the Orange Rainbow, causing a stream of orange hearts to swirl around her. She then absorbs the streams into her hand, and throws it at the target, which purifies it.

Etymology
Tachibana (橘): Tachibana is both a Japanese surname and word, and it translates to "orange", alluding to her theme colour.

Mahiru (真昼): Ma (真) translates to "real", while Hiru (昼) translates to "daylight", coming together to form "real daylight".

Together, Mahiru's name means "orange real daylight".

Songs
Mahiru's voice actress, Morohoshi Sumire, has participated in several image songs for the character she voices. Many of them include duets with Ito Kanae, who voices Amagawa Lucia, and Yoshimura Haruka, who voices Fukushima Kei.

Trivia

 * Mahiru's birthday falls on September 6.
 * Her zodiac is Virgo.
 * Her blood type is O.
 * Mahiru is the second Cure to wear earrings in civilian form, preceded by Amanogawa Kirara.
 * Mahiru shares a few similarities with Natsuki Rin and Hino Akane.
 * All three have red as their theme colour (Akane and Mahiru's main theme colour is orange).
 * All three have a strong friendship with the lead Cure.
 * All three excel in sports.
 * All three undergo a significant change of their hair colours when they transform into their Pretty Cure forms. Rin's is from brown to red while Akane and Mahiru's is from red to orange.
 * All three are the second Cures of their respective teams.
 * All three are self-employed by their respective parents.
 * Coincidentally, Mahiru and Akane are similar in appearance, but Mahiru and Rin are similar in personality.
 * Mahiru is the first Cure to have dark skin.
 * She is the second character overall in the franchise to have dark skin, preceded by Prince Kanata.
 * Incidentally, the surname of Prince Kanata's voice actor is the same as Mahiru's.
 * Mahiru is the second Cure with a fear of bugs and insects, preceded by Midorikawa Nao.