Oh yea, she's here! The most hardcore awesome Magical Girl since the White Devil herself! Though unlike Nanoha there's so much more to Yuri's character. XD
I admit I didn't like her when I first saw her. In the first episode Moonlight came off as one of those perfect mystical waif-goddess/plot device characters. Then we meet her civilian self and she talks in riddles. I did not get her thing about understanding friendship around episode 10 or so.
She's considered to be one of the more angsty characters in the Precure series, and for good reason, but unlike some angsty people we all know, there's more to her than just a tragic backstory, and she gives us plenty of reason to still like her.
Of the the most poignant things about Yuri's backstory is her selflessness and confidence. Her fairy partner, Cologne, implores her to seek out the future partners of Chypre and Coffret, but Moonlight declines, saying that as long as she's strong enough to handle the threat, no one else will have to suffer like she has.
Naturally it comes back to bite her, resulting in the loss of Cologne and her ability to transform. She spends much of the series broken as a result. But being as awesome as she is that doesn't stop her from being awesome once in a while, like jumping into a swarm of Snackies to save her mom.
It takes the others dragging her back into the saddle before the glorious return of Cure Moonlight happens, and it was awesome.
I love that she's still capable enough to take down Snakies despite being essentially powerless. And unlike Itsuki, she's not a trained martial artist. She's a friggin scholar.
I love how this woman has the misfortune of being named "Yuri" in a franchise where girl love undertones are frequent.
She is a high school student. The rest of the Heartcatch cast is 14, and Yuri's 17.
This poor woman's life is a complete whirlwind of tragedy and feels, pretty much the most out of any character in the Precure franchise.
To put it in perspective...
- Spoiler:
-Her father went missing some time before the start of the show.
-The aforementioned loss of her fairy partner, as well as her ability to transform.
-She spends the first half of the show utterly broken, and has to be practically dragged back into the fighting.
-Then we're lead to believe Cologne will be revived. She's forced to leave the others to get mauled by Dark Precure while she takes this great chance to see him again... only to see that it's just his spirit.
-During the final battle it's discovered that the main villain's right hand man is none other than her brainwashed father, and that Dark Precure is basically Yuri's sister... whom she's forced to kill.
-Then her father sacrifices himself to save Yuri. He dies. Onscreen. Children's cartoons!
And the ending is bittersweet for her at best. Worst part is, she can't really explain this to her mom, so her mom will never know what happened to her husband.