4Kids Entertainment has let its license for the Pretty Cure magical girl anime series lapse.  4Kids announced the acquisition of the Pretty Cure anime in February of 2006 (see “4Kids Licenses the Pretty Cure Anime”), but in spite of talk that the series would appear on American TV in 2007 as part of an expanded effort by 4Kids to reach a young female audience, it appears that 4Kids never did get around to airing the series (or dubbing it in English) and doesn’t plan to do so now in spite of the fact that as of this fall the company is programming the old Kids WB Saturday morning block on the CW network as well as the 4Kids block that airs on Fox Stations.

The license for the series appears to have reverted to Toei, which now includes Pretty Cure on its English language Website.  Toei has also made the first two episodes of the original Pretty Cure anime series, which was directed by Daisuke Nishio (Dragon Ball Z), available in subtitled versions via IGN’s Direct2Drive Website.