Ailani Mahelona

Ailani Mahelona is one of the five main Cures in Defenders of the Ocean: The PreCure Saga.

Ailani's alter ego is Cure Summer.

Personality
Manatsu is an extremely energetic and motivated 1st year middle school student who moved from Minamino Island to Aozora City. She always acts before she thinks, and in any situation Manatsu says "I'll do what's important, right now!", but occasionally this recklessness tends to backfire on her. Although mostly enthusiastic and motivated, she doesn't like to study.

Relationships

 * Lana: Manatsu instantly starts a friendship with Laura upon realizing Laura is a mermaid. Laura initially treats her with contempt, but after Manatsu rescues her, she begins to regard her as a friend. The two have met each other in the past, but Manatsu didn't know at the time that Laura was a mermaid.

Etymology
Ailani means "high chief" in Hawaiian.

Mahelona means "house" in Hawaiian.

Coral is a hard substance formed from the bones of very small sea animals.

Meeting Laura As A Child
When Manatsu was a child, she was exploring Minamino Island when she spotted Laura. Though unaware that Laura was a mermaid the entire time, Manatsu almost immediately befriended her, and they spent the day together, with Manatsu promising to meet Laura again. However, Laura did not return the next day due to having her memory wiped, which saddened Manatsu greatly. She did not remember Laura until meeting her again years later.

Meeting Laura and Becoming Cure Summer
Manatsu sets off to Aozora City to live with her mother, but on the way there, she drops her lipstick into the ocean. She later encounters Laura, who had found her lipstick, and quickly gets excited because she has met a mermaid, even immediately considering Laura as her new friend. When Laura is captured by Chongire's Yaraneeda, Manatsu decides to rescue her, and becomes Cure Summer for the first time. She successfully defeats the Yaraneeda, and slowly becomes closer friends with Laura.

Argument and Reconciliation with Laura
When Manatsu starts attending school, she begins to pay less attention to Laura. She later takes Laura to her school per the latter's request, but soon quarrels with Laura after realizing her peers have spotted the mermaid as well as Laura complaining about her not treating her duty as a Cure seriously. At first, she believes that the fault fully lies in Laura, but soon she feels regretful for what she said. She eventually decides to save Laura from Chongire's Yaraneeda, and vows to continue being friends with her, as well as living her life as a student and Cure to the fullest, repairing their friendship.

Studying plus Regaining her Motivation Power
When Manatsu is told she needs to study so she can keep doing club activities, she tries to do so but is just not interested. So when Chongire appears and his Zenzen Yaraneeda overpowers her and steals her Motivation Power, Manatsu is nothing but a sleepy, unmotivated mess. But as she witnesses her friends fighting the Zenzen Yaraneeda, she regains her motivation on her own, and later her stolen Motivation Power is found, which gives Summer and her friends a new power up. But even after all this, she still fails all of her exams, but is motivated to pass her make-up exams so she can continue being in the Tropical Club.

Meeting the Legendary Cure and Earning Land Beat Dynamic
Sometime later, Manatsu and Laura are having fun with the Ocean Prism Mirror, when Butler summons a Chou Zettai Yaraneeda for the first time. Then, Manatsu later dreams about meeting the Legendary Pretty Cure, but wakes up clueless about who she is. Later, she and her friends come across different Yaraneedas that were created from the previous night, but they struggle to deal with them. Summer ends up dropping both the dresser and Kururun after being knocked out by one of the Yaraneedas, and starts to have her Motivation Power drained. However, she regains her motivation and transforms again after her friends share their Motivation Power with her. With her determination to retrieve the stolen Motivation Power, the Legendary Cure once again appears, this time in front of her friends as well. Together, they use their newly transformed dresser and the Land Heart Kuru Ring to purify the main Yaraneeda. After the battle ends, Manatsu and her friends vow to work harder to defeat the Witch.

Plans for her Future
When being asked by Miss Sakuragawa what she wants to be as an adult, Manatsu becomes hesitant about it. She later learns that through discussing the city's job experience event with her friends, they have already started to decide what jobs and careers they are planning to pursue. Her parents then tell her and her friends their own stories of their childhood dreams and how they found out their dream jobs after knowing her hesitation, and she and her father reiterate that having many dreams is fine as long as they get to do what is important at the present, and her father also remarks that there are infinite possibilities in the future.

On the day of the job experience event, Elda suddenly crashes it by summoning a Yaraneeda, so Summer has to confront her. When Elda complains that it is foolish to be an adult as it means being burdened with responsibilities, Summer argues that adults can still do the fun things they want, but Elda retorts that growing up also means being left behind. Summer still believes that doing what you love in the present is important too, which is shown on the screen that she admitted that she will be what she wants to become the most as a grownup. After the fight is over, Manatsu decides that no matter what happens in the future, what she wants to do right at this moment is to be with her friends.

A Backfired Plan
The Cures are celebrating their Halloween festival at school, when suddenly a Yaraneeda summoned from a lost orb attacks. As Laura is out of town looking for the best costume for herself, Manatsu gets desperate and decides to use the Aqua Pot herself. At first, Summer seems to have succeeded, until she realizes that all the Motivation Power get entangled, prompting Laura to scold her for using the Pot without her permission. Meanwhile, Chongire appears and summons a stronger Yaraneeda that traps the other Cures in pineapple rings. After realizing her original plan would trap her too, Summer manages to get the Yaraneeda close enough to free everyone. Laura then undoes the damage Manatsu caused, and Manatsu learns that there are times that she should not do things without second thoughts.

Forgotten Memories
After being washed away into the now damaged Grand Ocean which was destroyed during their earlier visit, Manatsu and her friends decide to venture into the room where the Mermaid Queen is being held captive to save the Queen herself. However, upon entering the room where the memories of the mermaids are stored, Manatsu and her friends are surprised that the mermaids actually have their memories erased of any humans they meet, including the one from the Witch of Delays that is about the Legendary Cure.

At first, Manatsu does not know what Laura saw in her shell that stores her memories, but soon after she and her friends save the Queen, not only do they learn that the Witch wants to use the full Casket to gain immortality, but Manatsu also realizes that Laura was the friend she met as a child, finally remembering their shared past. Unfortunately, they cannot convince the Queen to change the law of erasing the memories of mermaids. However, Manatsu refuses to let this harsh revelation get in the way of her friendship with Laura, and after meeting the Legendary Cure, who saves them again, Summer along with La Mer and the others defeat the octopus Yaraneeda after retrieving the Marine Ring from Butler. After the fight, Summer tells La Mer that she will cherish the days she has with her, because that is the most important thing to her now. That same night, she gives Laura the flower crown she promised, which makes Laura happy.

Infiltrating the Witch's mansion
After being swallowed by a blue whale Yaraneeda in the previous episode, Manatsu has a vision of meeting Cure Oasis, who shows her helping out someone in the past. Before she could reveal who it was, Manatsu wakes up and wonders where she is before remembering she was inside the Yaraneeda. She escapes by forcefully opening its mouth and after spotting the WItch's Mansion, prepares to go ask her to return everyone's Motivation Power. As she is looking, Manatsu gets directions from an unsuspecting Chongire. However, she ends up going the wrong way and barges in on Elda playing. While trying again, she sees Coral, Papaya, and Flamingo battling a Zenzen Yaraneeda and decides to join them, transforming into Cure Summer to help them purify it. Not long after, the blue whale Yaraneeda appears again to attack them, but they purify that one as well when La Mer rejoins the group. When Summer enters the mansion again, she orders the Witch to return the Motivation Power before recognizing her as the villain who attacked the village a long time ago.

Summer still tries to reason with the Witch, only to fail and de-transform when Chongire Yaraneeda attacks her. After Elda saves her by having her fall through a trap door in the floor, she and her four friends hide inside of a spare room, where Laura tells them about Oasis and the Witch's past. After a tough fight with Chongire Yaraneeda, Summer and the other Cures manage to purify him, only to realize the Witch is bent on destroying the world after remembering her own past. However, Summer reasons with the Witch as she believes the Witch isn't heartless, and reveals that the Witch just wants to be friends with Oasis. She then channels Oasis so Oasis can reunite the Witch after a century. She and her friends watch the Witch and Oasis disappear together.

The Final Battle against Butler
However, right as Summer and the other Cures are happy that the Witch has found peace, they realize Butler refuses to accept the Witch's passing and turns himself into a Yaraneeda to destroy the entire world by himself. Before they can actually attack him, he is proven to be too powerful for them and soon causes Summer and her team to de-transform with his strong whirlpool.

After receiving her Tropical Pact from Elda, Manatsu transforms with her friends again, and together with the defected villains, Summer tries to fight Butler and his Kowasunda, only for Butler to overpower them. However, she and the four other Cures refuse to give up, and with the Super Tropical Paradise attack, they manage to purify Butler. After Butler deprives himself of his own motivation, the Mermaid Queen appears before them, and Summer joins the other Cures to retrieve all the Motivation Power with the Mermaid Aqua Pot from the Fool's Casket. After bidding the three villains farewell and leaving Grand Ocean, Manatsu and her friends resume preparing for the graduation festival, and they have a slumber party. But when she wakes up during the night, she has to face the truth of Laura potentially leaving her forever by inheriting the throne.

Epilogue
After trying to come to terms with Laura's upcoming departure, Manatsu decides to get the giant melon bread that appeared in her bizarre dream in the form of the cushion Laura won. She avoids talking about hearing Laura's conversation with the Mermaid Queen. After Laura finally explains the situation, Manatsu believes that they won't forget Laura easily and encourages Laura to do what's the most important to her now, and respects her decision. However, during the ending of the play, Manatsu finally breaks down into tears over Laura's departure, even though she later laughs it off with her friends after Laura reveals herself to be a mermaid.

That evening, as Laura is going to leave, Manatsu gives her own lipstick to Laura as a parting gift, and even after Laura tells them the truth behind the memory erasing machine as well as her own worries about no longer remembering them, Manatsu still vows to be her friend for eternity. Nonetheless, Manatsu still cries again after Laura returns to the ocean. Due to Laura's memories being erased, she soon forgets about Laura.

Sometime later, Manatsu heads out and arrives at the cove where she sees Laura. Although both initially don't recognize each other, they suddenly regain their memories after Laura shows her the lipstick, mostly thanks to the help of the Mermaid Aqua Pot that overloads the memory erasing machine. In the end, she finally gets to reunite with Laura again.

Cure Summer
'''Joyful Everlasting Summer! Cure Summer!''' ときめく常夏！キュアサマー！ ''Tokimeku Tokonatsu! Kyua Samā!''

Cure Summer (キュアサマー) is Manatsu's Pretty Cure alias. In order to transform, she needs her Tropical Pact and Heart Kuru Ring.

Transformation
The transformation starts with Manatsu's Tropical Pact appearing. She then holds the pact while removing her Heart Kuru Ring, inserting it into the lock and turning it. The pact opens up, revealing her reflection. Then Manatsu takes the brush and shouts "Let's make up! Bling!" before touching the center of the pact with it, causing it to glow. She then shouts "Cheeks!" as she presses it against her cheeks, giving them a rosy glow. She taps the middle of the pact again and shouts "Eyes!", giving her pink eyeshadow and adding pink heart-shaped flecks to her eyes. She taps it again and shouts "Hair!" as her hair ribbon turns into a giant flower and her hair grows and turns blonde with a magenta ombre. She once again taps it and shouts "Lips!", applying pink lipstick. She taps the middle one more time and shouts "Dress!" as she draws a heart with the brush, which splits into eight hearts. Each of the hearts strike her body, making parts of her outfit appear. First are her shoes, followed by her gloves, then her skirt, top, choker, and earrings. A pouch for her Tropical Pact appears on the left, dropping in. With the transformation complete, Summer runs and leaps into the air doing several spins before starting her introduction. She then winks before announcing her name and striking her final pose.

Attacks

 * Otento Summer Strike (おてんとサマーストライク): Cure Summer's solo attack that she can perform with her Heart Rouge Rod.
 * Mix Tropical (ミックストロピカル): A group attack that Cure Summer performs with Coral, Papaya and Flamingo. To perform it, she and her teammates need their Heart Rouge Rods and the Heart Quartet Ring.
 * Land Beat Dynamic (ランドビートダイナミック): A group attack that Cure Summer performs with Coral, Papaya, Flamingo and La Mer. To perform it, she and her teammates must be in their Excellen-Tropical Style, and they need the Tropical Heart Dresser and the Land Kuru Ring.
 * Marine Beat Dynamic (マリンビートダイナミック): A group attack that Cure Summer performs with Coral, Papaya, Flamingo and La Mer. To perform it, she and her teammates must be in their Excellen-Tropical Style, and they need the Tropical Heart Dresser and the Marine Kuru Ring.
 * Heart Shining Orchestra (ハートシャイニングオーケストラ): A group attack that Cure Summer performs with Coral, Papaya, Flamingo and La Mer in the movie. To perform it, she and her teammates must be in their Snow Crystal Tropical Style, and they need the Tropical Heart Dresser and the Snow Heart Kuru Ring.

Trivia

 * Manatsu's birthday is on August 1st, making her Zodiac sign Leo.
 * Manatsu's most precious item is the lipstick her mother had given her, which turns into her Heart Rouge Rod when she transforms into Summer for the first time.
 * Manatsu's favorite things are anything that appears to be tropical themed, and school.
 * Manatsu is the first lead Cure whose theme color is white and tropical colored (rainbow) instead of pink.
 * An interview from Animage revealed that Manatsu's theme color was always meant to be rainbow with white from the start because the Producer wanted Manatsu to stand out even amongst all the Pretty Cure.
 * In the Animage January 2022 issue, it was revealed that Manatsu's name was originally going to be Natsu, then Natsuki, followed by Natsumi before the staff finally settled on Manatsu.
 * Nakatani Yukiko revealed that Manatsu was not only designed with her origin in mind, but also as if she was a protagonist for a boy's series.
 * Episode 19 reveals that Manatsu is afraid of ghosts.
 * Manatsu has had her motivation stolen the most number of times out of all characters in the series.