The franchise started with Futari wa Pretty Cure, a magical girl anime series from 2004. It aired on Sunday mornings on the TV channel TV Asahi, alongside popular tokusatsu franchises Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. Futari wa Pretty Cure featured many refreshing aspects to the magical girl genre, such as physical fights and hand-to-hand combat scenes, a magical girl duo and being sensible towards the young audience, with no overt violence or sexual themes. It was also merchandise driven, depicting toys on sale as transformation / power-up items and having the main characters search for collectables. This was because the director, Daisuke Nishio, was more used to working on shows like Dragon Ball, and the idea of the protagonists being a duo came partially from the Rush Hour movies. The series was so successful that a sequel was produced a year after, called Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart. Since then, every year a new Pretty Cure season is aired on TV Asahi's Sunday morning blocks, though they do not follow the same continuity as Futari wa Pretty Cure and Max Heart. A group of magical girls that are both warriors and protectors, the Pretty Cures, fight against evil forces and are accompanied by fairies, the magical mascot characters. The group usually starts with two to three Cures, with new Cures joining about half-way through the season which is a trend that began with Fresh Pretty Cure!. Sometimes, the Cures are supported by magical warriors that do not carry the "Cure" title. A series has about 45 to 50 episodes, and a movie with the respective season's characters that comes out in fall each year. The franchise spawned movies, CD releases, books, comics, games, stage character shows, toys and a crossover franchise, Pretty Cure All Stars.