Starry Dreamer

Reneé | 41 | cis female | she/her | Aspie | bibliophile | dreamer | Christian | nerd/otaku [Banner & portrait: Wikimedia Commons]

[starry-dreamer]

Star Detective PreCure Episode 26 Thoughts

[GIF from @princeofsolaria]

Well, this episode is called "Cure Éclair's Return" (well, more accurately, "revival" - it's "Kyua Ekureru no Fukkatsu" in Japanese) and they definitely deliver on that.

The bulk of the episode is a continuation of the battle from last time. Although oddly enough Kurea doesn't transform immediately. The episode kinda starts out with everyone sort of reacting to Kurea's appearance. Then Shushutan heads over to Jett and Mashutan to I guess introduce him/herself. Mashutan seems to already know them (she's like "My! It's been a long time"). Shushutan tells the other Cures that they'll have to combine all their Cure powers to take down Usonoir (despite Kurea insisting she could handle it alone last episode), so Anna, Mikuru, and Luluka re-transform (I checked the timestamp and we were like 4 minutes in when this happened...I think that might be a new record for when a transformation shows up) and start fighting Usonoir again.

Kurea, meanwhile, is still off to the sidelines, with not much happening with her but her body absorbing her Makoto Jewel and then later some power going into the perfume bottle-like item Shushutan gave her.

Nijee, Goemon, and Ageseine are processing the appearance of Kurea and Shushutan. Nijee confirms what I think a lot of fans theorized (especially since Episode 23) - that only certain people can enter the Thieves' special barrier, namely fairies or people with fairies (like the Cures). Normal civilians can only enter if brought there by a fairy (we're shown a flashback of Usonoir summoning the lovey-dovey couple back in episode 13 as an example of this). Thus, the only way Kurea could enter the barrier was cause Shushutan was with her. Goemon pipes up that he saw her enter the barrier before, back in episode 23 (I guess it wasn't just Luluka who sensed her presence then), much to the shock and dismay of the other two. They also bring up that Usonoir must've seen her enter the barrier before too (since he can watch the battles from the Villain Theater), but Ageseine says Usonoir doesn't care about finding out the Cures' identities. (I mean, at this point, he probably has seen Anna, Mikuru, and Luluka transform already anyway, and he sees Kurea transform in this episode).

Eventually though it becomes obvious that Answer, Mystique, and Arcana Shadow aren't making much of a dent on Usonoir, so that means it's time for Éclair to shine - in OP glory, of course, like most Sixth Ranger PreCure in their debut episode (and for a few episodes afterwards). Shushutan calls for her to transform, to "show her sparkle." So, she does.

And dang, much like with Luluka's they pulled out the animation budget for this one. Interestingly, despite Éclair having a strong butterfly motif, her transformation is much more focused on water and ballet-like steps. Her phrases also combine Anna and Mikuru's and Luluka's phrases (she uses the same "Open! [Name of Item]! PreCure Wake-Up Time" starting combo as Anna and Mikuru, but her later phrases - for adding specific details - are more similar to Luluka). Also she identifies as the "Fragrance of Inner Truth," which fits both with her henshin item (the "Top of Lily Fragrance") and Kurea's earlier comment about following her truth.

After making her grand entrance, Éclair then proceeds to fly through the air at blindingly fast speed fighting Usonoir while everyone else watches.

Not sure why they couldn't have given the others at least something to do, but eh well.

And they had to go nerf Éclair at the same time. Apparently, unlike Arrowverse Barry Allen, she doesn't ensure her stamina can keep up with her super speed, so after several minutes of mach speed fighting she...basically passes out?? It's kind of handled in a humorous way (with Éclair having guru-guru eyes and Shushutan having to literally drag her off the battlefield with their tiny paws), but it might be a problem if this keeps happening. I don't know if they just did this because she'd just recovered her memories and didn't know her own strength, or if it's a situation like Cure Ace (when she first appeared, she could only stay transformed for five minutes at a time) or underage Miraculous holders who transform back 5 minutes after using their finisher. I guess we'll see.

Anyway, Éclair did manage to do enough damage to significantly weaken Usonoir, so the other Cures at least have a fighting chance now. They beat up Usonoir some more until Éclair recovers and finally takes down Usonoir with her finisher, PreCure Flying Infinity. Which much like her transformation, looks really gorgeous.

Usonoir doesn't get full on killed/disintegrated though, he just turns back to his puppy fairy form, though clearly injured. Nijee, Ageseine, and Goemon then take him and flee the scene. The barrier falls, all the people that were Thanos snapped come back, and all is seemingly well. We also see glimpses of the other Éclair candidates, so thankfully they're all ok. (Also Eliza gets her turn to find out Pochitan can talk, so I guess Shiruku is the only Éclair candidate who doesn't know that now?)

There is one tense moment in all this, though. The Cures are on a rooftop, watching things go back to normal, and Éclair approaches Arcana Shadow as if wanting to talk to her (interestingly she calls her "Arcana," so the theory that that was her Cure name originally might be true). Arcana Shadow nips things in the bud, though, correcting Éclair on her name - while, appropriately, stepping from the light into a shadow onscreen - and warns Éclair that she is not the Cure Kurea once knew, before jumping off the roof along with Mashutan.

Everyone goes back to the agency to recover. Kurea tells Anna that she and Luluka planted the Top of Lily flowers in the agency's garden. Then Anna full on drops the "Actually I'm from the future" bombshell on her, totally out of the blue. Like, Anna, girl, I know Kurea's a proper member of the team now, but maybe you should take things slow, you know?

We also learn that Jett somehow dragged Usonoir's now empty suit of armor back to the agency for analysis. Even Shushutan admits that they don't know what it is, which Jett comments is odd for a Fairy of Wisdom like Shushutan. He's sure he can figure it out though (cause he's a genius and all). The camera shows a glowing diamond shape on the collar area of the armor, the same color as the light seen below the stage in the Villain Theater (and apparently that specific shape is also often seen with the Thieves? If so I hadn't noticed).

We then go back to the Villain Theater, where the Thieves apparently teleported along with their injured boss. While they're trying to figure out what to do, a figure appears in shadow on one of the balconies. And it's Luluka!

Now, I kinda figured there was no way she'd even be welcome back there after basically betraying the group during this most recent fight, but apparently the writers aren't quite ready to redeem her just yet. She basically taunts the other Thieves, saying they made three mistakes. (The spotlights behind her each go out as she names them too, which is a nice touch).

Firstly, Usonoir used Cure Éclair's Makoto Jewel, even though there was no way he could control it or use its full power. Secondly, he misread the Tome of Mirages - he is not, in fact, the "Great King" from the prophecy (not sure how she knows this, but considering Mashutan's ancestors wrote the Tome, maybe she does know something even Usonoir doesn't know).

Nijee interrupts after this second one, saying that Luluka sought out Usonoir just to get Éclair's Makoto Jewel back, and that now that it's gone back to Éclair, there's no reason for Luluka to stay. After all, Ageseine adds, she's on the Cures' side now, right? Luluka responds by saying she only used the Cures as a way to get what she wanted (though she says this so glibly I wonder if she really believes it), while also admitting that she did get close to Usonoir in order to get the Makoto Jewel back.

But, at the same time, Mashutan says Nijee's deduction is only half right. Luluka agrees, saying this is the third mistake. Yes, she followed Usonoir to get the Jewel back, but she didn't want the Jewel back so she could get Éclair back. Luluka wanted to DESTROY the Jewel. Because, she says, if Cure Éclair isn't defeated, there will be no future.

As if to emphasize this reveal, we go back to Anna and Kurea in the garden, where as they leave one of the Top of Lily lilies is seen falling to the ground.

And that's how the episode ends.

So...once again we're left with a lot of mysteries. Luluka's real motivations, the backstory of Kurea and Luluka, what will happen with the Thieves now that Usonoir is injured (the last scene almost seems poised for Luluka to take over, which would be fitting for her Moriarty inspiration, plus this wouldn't be the first time in PreCure that an evil minion overthrew the Big Bad and took over - it happened as recently as Hirogaru Sky with Skearhead - but at the same time I kinda hope that doesn't happen), what the deal is with Usonoir's armor, etc. The biggest one, of course, is Éclair. Even though she's been revealed, there's still a lot we don't know about her. During the fight, she says "this isn't even my full power," so just how powerful IS she? Is she somehow secretly evil, and that's why Luluka wants to stop her? Or is her full power just too much for her to handle? Also when she transforms, Shushutan says this is Éclair's second transformation. It's unclear though if they mean second overall or if it's just the second because she's been "reborn" in a sense in this episode. If it's her second overall, that would mean that when Luluka said back in the Shiruku focus ep that Éclair only appeared "that one time," she was actually telling the truth. (Plus, now that we've seen her finisher, the flashbacks we saw of a woman flying with huge tulle ribbon-like wings fighting Usonoir make a bit more sense). But if it's just that Éclair was reborn, then why phrase it like they did??

It's possible that Éclair's full power is unstable for some reason, and if it's not stopped, there will be no future. This could mean a mass destructive apocalypse (á la Sailor Saturn), or more apropos to the series motifs, it could be that she has some kind of time powers. She does use this power called "kirameki time" where a sparkle appears in her eye, but I can't remember if it actually affects time at all (or reality in general like with Usonoir's powers - though those may be tied to the armor, since he only got back to the Villain Theater this time with the other Thieves' help, rather than his usual "glitch in space" type of entrance). Heck, I'm already seeing fans comparing her to Homura from Madoka Magica 😅

This being a kids show - and the fact that both Arcana Shadow and Éclair show up in the upcoming Star Detective movie that comes out in September - I think there will be some resolution here. Maybe not full forgiveness between Kurea and Luluka, but enough for them to properly become part of the team. Cause, while the episode preview for Episode 27 makes it seem like Kurea will become a regular part of the agency staff, she does still have her bakery job to worry about (unless she quits it for some reason). The official team really is still just Anna and Mikuru at this point. Maybe Eliza and/or Rei will step in and help out, but that remains to be seen.

Overall, a good episode, but a lot of mysteries still to be solved!

[Screenshots from PreCure Fan Wiki]

[starry-dreamer]

I haven't posted about it here, but I finally watched Witch Hat Atelier! I binged it in like three days because I thought there might be stuff for it at Comic-Con when I went. (I was also planning to bring my Witch Hat Atelier tote bag from the L.A. Kodansha House pop-up 👇🏻 as a backup for shopping - though since they give you such a huge bag as con swag that ended up not being necessary - so I think I figured I should also watch the show for that reason 😅)

Anyway, I really like it! The world building so far seems pretty interesting. Not just the magic system (which is interesting in itself) but the implied tensions between the Brimmed Hats and the "good guys" (the ones with the triangular hats...do they have a name? I forgot). Also the idea that, because outsiders don't know how magic actually works and have been led to believe only people born with the power can become witches, they think it's an easy fix for everything, when it's really much more complicated than that.

I also found it unusual that they have practically all the witches in the vicinity - including Coco's fellow apprentices at Qifrey's atelier - already know what Coco is an outsider and how she messed up big time (resulting in turning her mom to stone and encasing their house in crystals) from the get-go, rather than having Coco have to hide it, as you might expect. I guess it's better for the character arc of Coco having to prove herself as a witch if people know her background upfront. She's essentially working with the same fame thing as Harry in Harry Potter, except that she's famous for screwing up rather than killing the most infamous Dark Wizard of the age.

The character types of Coco's fellow apprentices are pretty varied too. You have Tetia, who has serious Pinkie Pie energy 😆 and just wants to use magic to make people happy. On the opposite side of the spectrum you have Agott, who is super serious, studious, and ambitious, to the point that Qifrey secretly worries that she's trying to grow up too fast. (We later learn that she comes from a pretty famous family and was possibly thought of as a disappointment in the past, which is likely why she feels pressured to succeed). Then there's Richeh, who likes eating, sleeping, and generally doing her own thing, but is also stubborn and doesn't like other people telling her what to do. She just wants to be herself and feels like that'll be ruined even if she's forced to copy down other people's spells from textbooks. Qifrey had to basically go behind her back to get her to take the second test (it's implied he submitted an application for her without her knowledge), which she is pretty annoyed about.

I'm not sure who my favorite character is. I like Qifrey a lot, but I get the feeling he has a dark side which might make me not like him later. (I did accidentally find out why he's so set on tracking down the Brimmed Hats from a YouTube short I was trying to save...oops). I also kind of like Tartah, the son of the magic stationer. I feel sorry for him not being able to see any colors. He kind of endeared himself to me after that episode where he helped Coco in the hospital. Maybe he can find his own way to do magic in the end. If anything, he shows just how limited the Pact-Following Witches are with healing being forbidden magic. (Like, I understand the idea of any magic being applied directly to the body being forbidden, but HEALING TOO?? Really?? I feel like there should be an exception there)

Also that one episode where Qifrey has Coco use magic for cooking I guess explains why the Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen spin-off manga exists. I saw that in the manga reading area of the Kodansha House pop-up 👇🏻and wondered what it was about. Apparently it's a slice of life cooking manga about Qifrey and Olruggio (he's also a hoot btw).

Oh I totally forgot to talk about the animation! I knew the manga covers for this series were gorgeous, and that the author had a background in illustration, so I expected a lot from the art, and I was not disappointed. It's weird, I'm not that great at creating art myself, but I notice when things I watch have great art. I guess cause I like looking at art in books and at museums. Apparently the company that made the anime went to extra lengths with the animation, and it shows!

Anyway I really enjoyed the series and am looking forward to season 2! In the meantime I can hopefully catch up on the manga. I want to watch Crunchyroll's companion video podcast too.

[Tagging this for spoilers in case people haven't watched the series]

[starry-dreamer]

Star Detective PreCure Episode 25 Thoughts

[GIF from @hothotmiso]

Well, here we are PreCure fans. The moment of truth. Not only does this episode finally tell us who Cure Éclair is, but it's also the Destined Day the villains have been waiting for. The episode conveniently reminds us of this by starting with an establishing shot of the city, overlaid with the date "1999/7/19" and then the words "The Destined Day" underneath.

We then get little glimpses of each of our Éclair candidates. Shiruku is filming what looks like a kaiju movie, Rei is shown coming out of I think a store, and Eliza and Kurea are going somewhere (the agency, as we later learn).

Over in the Villain Theater, Usonoir states that the Destined Day is at hand. One of the thieves (Nijee I think) is like "Whoa, can we hold off? A search for a Makoto Jewel is in progress" (not sure who was doing it). Usonoir is like, "No problem, I've got one right here" and basically reveals to his minions that he's got Cure Éclair's Makoto Jewel (something he only revealed to Luluka before this) and plans to use that to become the King the prophecy foretold.

Now, unsurprisingly, Luluka is NOT having this, and not only reacts very emotionally (she's usually so stoic so an outburst like this is unusual from her), but seems prepared to straight up transform and throw hands.

Mashutan counsels her not to, though, which to be fair is probably smart. We already know Usonoir is pretty powerful.

Nijee also protests that Éclair's Jewel isn't like the Makoto Jewels they've been stealing, and doubts that it will work, but Usonoir obviously doesn't care.

Back at the agency, Kurea shows up to visit as it's her day off. Anna and Mikuru greet her, saying Jett is busy. However, soon after Kurea arrives, Jett runs upstairs, declaring that he's finished the perfume he was making. And with that, we go into the opening.

A scene then ensues where Anna and Mikuru basically explain how they've narrowed down the identity of the missing person they've been looking for (the case they explained to Kurea in her focus ep) to four people -- Eliza, Shiruku, Rei, and Kurea herself -- and that they made the perfume in hopes that the scent will awaken the lost memories of whichever one of them is Éclair. Kurea protests, saying it couldn't possibly be her. Then, as they're talking, a Phantom Thieves calling card flies in through the window.

Anna goes to the window, expecting to see Luluka (since apparently she's the only one who sends these cards), but when the camera pans over, we learn it's actually Mashutan who delivered it, though she flies away before the girls see her.

The card says that today, at the land called Makoto, Usonoir will steal the world.

The girls use the map they found when renovating to try to pin down the place, and it looks like from the marks that someone else had also been trying to do this. Then Anna remembers a tower in her time period called the Land Makoto Tower, and asks if it exists in 1999. Mikuru says it does. (They say this all in front of Kurea too, weirdly).

There's also this shot where Mikuru compares the word "land" as written by Luluka with a word written in kanji. I'm not sure why this is unless it's for the audience. It's also interesting that Luluka wrote "land" in katakana. I don't know if she did this so they would know she was referring to a specific place (since the term "land of Makoto" did make Anna think of a certain tower) or if she just uses katakana cause her kanji skills aren't good (we still don't know if she always lived in England before she came to Makoto Mirai or not, or if she was born in Japan but then moved to England).

Anyway, this is obviously bad, and Pochitan even pulls them out via purse strap yet again. Kurea follows, where she runs into Eliza, who was on her way to show Anna and Mikuru her latest Ellie book. (Seriously, how fast does she write these??) When the camera focuses on her bag, the title is revealed to be The Mystery of Éclair. (Complete with actual éclairs on the cover...I thought this was just funny cover art initially but given how this episode ends, I wonder if it was foreshadowing... 🤔)

We go to the Land Makoto Tower, where the thieves minus Big Boss Usonoir have assembled. Mashutan arrives and whispers in Luluka's ear that she delivered the calling card.

It became pretty obvious to me at this point that the calling card was basically a secret SOS from Luluka to the Cures. She was not happy about what was about to go down, and made sure the Cures would be there to at least try to stop it.

Usonoir shows up, in the same "glitching reality" fashion as he did last time, but this time there are innocent bystanders to see it. He doesn't seem to care, though, and at any rate he pretty quickly Thanos snaps all the civilians (he says it's temporary, but as we don't see where they went, we can't be sure he's not lying). It should be noted that the secret "hide this battle" barrier the Thieves usually put up is NOT up at this point. Anyone with a decent eyeline can see what's going on (more or less).

Anna and Mikuru show up, and Goemon tells Luluka to help him take care of them. This time, however, she says no. (Well, in the Japanese audio, she actually says "Muri," which is more like "Impossible" or "No can do"). She declares this is her chance, transforms, and boldly walks over to the Cures' side. Mashutan then tells Anna and Mikuru to transform too. They're obviously a bit confused at first (this is the first time Mashutan has talked to them in this way) but do so. And thus, a true battle of Cures vs Thieves begins.

Usonoir lets the other thieves do the dirty work while he gets back to fulfilling the Prophecy. Arcana Shadow explains to Answer and Mystique that Usonoir stole Éclair's Makoto Jewel and now intends to use it to shroud the world in eternal lies. They're shocked, but agree Usonoir has to be stopped. They fight alongside Arcana Shadow for the first time (who treats them more like equals this time, though she still warns them not to get in her way). At one point, Anna and Mikuru declare that Star Detectives never give up, and Arcana Shadow smiles, saying "You're starting to get it." This is the first time she's shown them real respect, which I hope bodes well for the future.

Usonoir, meanwhile, prepares to unleash his plan and floats into the sky, and one of the thieves says Usonoir is about to show off his true form. He takes off his mask to reveal...a puppy.

Yeah, no, seriously. His true form is a Cavalier Spaniel puppy fairy. He still keeps his deep voice too. It's hilarious. (Not sure what the rest of his "body" was made of then 😆)

The ironic cuteness doesn't last for long though, as Usonoir pretty quickly uses Éclair's Makoto Jewel to transform into this evil dog thing that is like kaiju size. Now things are getting real bad.

Or, they would, except that he can't fully control the form. The power of Éclair's Crystal is fighting against him. So basically Usonoir is reduced to flailing about uncontrollably and causing massive property damage. A bit anticlimactic, but ok.

Nijee decides they need to set up the "seal the battle" barrier and fast to contain the carnage. One of the other thieves is like "Can we do it on our own?" (Which I guess means that usually they can't do it without creating a Hanninda first? Usually that's what triggers its appearance). Nijee says that if all three of them pool their power, they should be able to do it. So, they do.

We've never seen this kind of camaraderie among the Thieves, so that they'd work together on this is pretty surprising. It does work, though, surprisingly.

I guess I should mention what happens with the Éclair candidates during all this. The whole time, Kurea and Eliza are trying to rush to where the battle is. Eliza trips and hurts her ankle at one point and tells Kurea to go on without her (that kinda felt like a contrived situation to put her out of the running to be Éclair). Rei sees Pochitan flying around the city - she had left the battle along with the perfume Jett made in hopes of finding the real Éclair, since despite Usonoir not being fully in control of his Demon Dog form, he still puts up enough of a fight to beat all three Cures literally into the ground, causing them to even revert to civilian form - and runs after her. Eventually Pochitan finds what from her POV is her target - and it's Kurea. Pochitan tells Kurea (with her limited vocabulary) that she has to go help the Cures. After getting over the shock of finding out Pochitan can talk (I guess she didn't know that yet), Kurea still insists she couldn't be Éclair, but promises to help Pochitan return the perfume to the Cures. They encounter Rei on the way, who's overjoyed that Pochitan is ok (since they've both become at least aware of the battle at this point). Then there's a rumble, and both Pochitan and the perfume bottle go flying. Rei lunges for Pochitan while Kurea tries to save the bottle. Pochitan ends up ok, but the perfume bottle breaks, to Kurea's horror.

(Oh and what is Shiruku doing all this time? Unfortunately she's still tied up in her film shoot and can't easily leave, though she can see Kaiju Demon Dog from the roof she's filming on. Eventually she does decide to leave and try to help, but doesn't get far before returning to comfort this child actress there. I don't know if this was their way of singling out Shiruku as the clear red herring in the Éclair mystery or if they just couldn't think of a good subplot for her).

Shortly after the bottle breaks, the Thieves get the barrier going, and Pochitan and Kurea disappear, to Rei's surprise.

Kurea is very upset, apologizing to Pochitan for breaking the bottle, saying that now they won't be able to help the Star Detective PreCure. She then pauses, wondering why she said "PreCure" all of a sudden.

The scent of the perfume does its work, and we see Kurea's memories flooding back, including showing her being friends with Luluka, and Luluka explaining that the lilies in the agency's garden are a special variety created in tandem by humans and fairies called "Top of Lily."

Not only that, but her scrunchie suddenly loosens and starts glowing, revealing...a fairy!

This fairy is Éclair's fairy Shushutan, and they are overjoyed that Éclair's memories have come back. They present Kurea with her transformation item, a perfume bottle looking thing called "Top of Lily," and tells her they need to go help the Cures.

We return to the battle, where things look bleak...until Kurea shows up! Éclair's Makoto Jewel within Usonoir responds to her, flying into her hand and making her look like a freaking badass.

The other girls are shocked to learn Kurea is Éclair. She apologizes for being late, and asks them to leave the rest to her. They worry about her fighting alone, but she says it's ok cause she's strong. Luluka...doesn't look too happy about these developments though, for some unknown reason.

The episode basically ends there, with Kurea squaring up to fight. Her transformation and stuff will have to wait (I guess this is to line up with her toys releasing on July 25).

This episode was definitely worth the hype, and I'm curious to see how things resolve. There are theories that Usonoir will get defeated here and an even bigger Big Bad will take over, but we'll see I guess. There's also whatever history Luluka and Kurea have. I saw one video that said exploring their relationship could break the show and rob Anna and Mikuru of character development, pointing out that Mikuru has yet to have a solo focus episode, which is rather odd with us being essentially halfway through the season. I know the detective motif and the need to transform together has kinda forced Anna and Mikuru to be almost always together, but they still managed to do solo focus eps back in Futari wa and Mahoutsukai when this was the case. So hopefully they can do that here too.

(Also when I said earlier that Eliza's book cover might be foreshadowing...it has literal éclairs on the cover. As in the dessert. That could very well have been a clue that Kurea, the patissière, was Éclair. Toei themselves actually posted some clues pointing to Kurea being Éclair on the "Who is Cure Éclair?" voting campaign website, but only after episode 25 aired).

Oh also I wish I hadn't looked at social media before watching the episode, cause I accidentally saw a post on Instagram from I think the official Japanese PreCure Instagram that revealed who Éclair was in the caption. I stopped looking at it after a second, but the damage had been done.

It's also worth noting that the voting campaign website stated that the results of the poll wouldn't determine who would be Éclair. When I posted about this on the r/Precure subreddit, some people said that there were actually people who thought the poll would have an effect. The episode definitely seemed set up for it to be any of them (except maybe Shiruku, who had a pretty tiny role in the episode compared to the others) with how much they teased us and how they held out on the actual reveal till nearly the end of the episode. Like I said, the thing of Eliza suddenly hurting her ankle felt pretty contrived (it's a common trope in a "hero must go on alone" type of story). Rei was more convincing, with only the barrier going up ultimately cutting her out of the fight.

As other people have said, I hope they don't abandon the other Éclair candidates after this. They all definitely have side character potential. Eliza has already shown interest in working at the agency, and Rei could, as I've said, cover for the girls at school (although at this point I think school is out for the summer in-series).

Anyway, next time we get the resolution of the Destined Day battle, Éclair's transformation and probably finisher, Shushutan meeting the others, and hopefully the return of all those people Usonoir Thanos snapped. Looking forward to it!

[Second Luluka gif from @hothotmiso. Screenshots from PreCure Fan Wiki]

[starry-dreamer]

I brought my 3DS thinking that Comic Con might be a good place to get StreetPasses. And I was right! I know 10 doesn't seem like a lot, but it has been a while since the 3DS era. It's the most I've gotten at one time I think. I mostly got people from California, but I also got one person from Florida and one from Colorado!

Also you can make your speech bubbles have backgrounds now??

Also "#Streetpass4Life" lol

(I took these on the train trip home so apologies for the glare)

[starry-dreamer]

I got a surprising number of freebies at Comic-Con too. The big bag and the lanyard were standard Con swag (I also got a pin that I forgot to get a pic of). The "Escape into a story" postcard I got for taking some audiobook quiz at Penguin Random House's booth. The Abbott Elementary poster I randomly got at the booth I bought the Krypto and "I'm Just a Bill" pins at as a "free with purchase" item. Yen Press had a bunch of freebies (in addition to what's pictured, I also got a flyer on how to play the new Delicious in Dungeon board game); the lip balm you got by casting your vote for which girl would win the love triangle in this one GL series. The Tom Bombadil print is probably the coolest freebie I got; that came from the booth for TheOneRing.net, where I bought the Shire coins and Middle-Earth patches, as a "free with purchase" thing.

I've never seen badge ribbons at Comic-Con before. The ones I got were both from booths in the "fan booth" area of the Mezzanine. For the "Kindness is Cool" one (which was from a ribbon grab bag) I had to name a kind character. I said Sailor Moon cause that was the only one I could think of 😆

The "Future of Doctor Who" pin came from a panel I went to that was at one of the nearby hotels. That was a kind of weird panel - all the panelists were fans and the general vibe was that it was a place to vent about your issues with the show. Very odd. Also because I was seated by the room attendant I ended up pretty squished in the whole time, which was less than ideal.

EDIT: I also got the special Comic-Con edition library card the San Diego Central Library was giving out. I don't have a picture of that though.

[starry-dreamer]

Went to Comic-Con yesterday! No idea how much damage I did to my wallet but I still got a decent amount of stuff. (I also got this Dandadan bag clip set which for some reason seems not to have made it home with me. Looking into it). I had looked in the official app beforehand to see what I really wanted (they list the exclusives there), which I think helped curb my shopping somewhat. The KPDH dolls were the most expensive thing at $50. Everything else was around $20 or so (yes, even the Madoka omnibus - technically it's priced at $24, but @yenpress was having a sale where everything was 20% off, so I got it for less).

I did also spend $60 to get a photo with Jim Cummings, the voice of Winnie the Pooh. Only because I loved Winnie the Pooh as a kid. Not like a signed photo or anything, just a regular photo taken on my own phone. Kinda a lot, but I would've probably regretted it if I hadn't I think.

(Also the Hello Kitty Cafe Pin and MLP and KPDH card boosters were from booths in the Interactive Zone near Petco Park, which is an off-site area you don't need a Comic-Con badge to enter. Do be prepared for long lines to get in though. There was also a metal detector, which I set off with the suspenders from my Misty cosplay 😅).

[starry-dreamer]

Star Detective PreCure Episode 24 ("Who is Cure Éclair?" Arc Part 4) Thoughts

So the "Who is Cure Éclair?" mini-arc has reached its final episode, and this one's focused on Rei.

Based on the summary, this definitely seemed set up like a "nighttime trial of courage at school" episode (especially since summer is the time for ghost tales in Japan). I mean, Mikuru is openly afraid of ghosts.

But instead it's tied to rumors spreading around school. Everyone's already on edge about the prophecies being talked about on TV (referring to the big day Usonoir and Co are waiting for), and now strange stuff is happening at school. Typical poltergeist type stuff - the skeleton in the science lab moved, a painting in the art room started crying, the piano was heard playing by itself in the music room.

Just as Anna and Mikuru are pondering what this could all mean, Rei shows up and asks them to come with her. They visit the chairwoman's office (and here you can really see the resemblance between her and Rei) and basically get officially hired to investigate the weird occurrences, but this time Rei will help them out. Which, given that this episode is focused on her, makes sense. Also she already knows Pochitan is alive so they don't have to hide that part at least.

Unfortunately their investigations of the science lab, music room, and art room don't yield any results, at least any obvious ones. You can tell Rei is noticing some stuff though, kind of like she can tell something is off, but can't quite put her finger on what it is. (Also with the painting one it turns out the "crying" is just that someone smeared some blue paint on a portrait, making it look like it was crying 😅)

Eventually, Rei gets to share her theory though - basically that certain things in each room weren't where they normally are - and the girls have an "a-ha" moment and determine someone must've been looking for something at the school. And that someone may have been from the Phantom Thieves.

This is confirmed moments later, when we see ALL FOUR of the Phantom Thieves running by. Yes, that's right, Usonoir is now so desperate to get a Makoto Jewel before the Big Day that he's just sent out the whole squad this time. This is the first time we've seen all four of them together outside the Villain Theater since the big Cures vs Thieves confrontation in Episode 13.

The girls confirm the Thieves were involved by using the Mirror Loupe to check for footprints (apparently Goemon isn't the only one with notable footprints, as they also identify Ageseine's and Nijee's) and go after them, with Rei being in charge of holding on to Pochitan (who becomes even more attached to Rei over the course of this episode, which is pretty cute).

They track the Thieves down to the courtyard, where we learn the thing they were after was a key that the chairwoman uses to open the school's gates, which they have managed to successfully steal. Pochitan manages to get it back and store it in her hammer space jewel. A battle still ensues though, and the girls warn Rei to take Pochitan and get out of there, which she does.

I honestly thought there might not be a Hanninda in this episode, since Pochitan stole back the stolen item before it could be turned into a Hanninda. However, it turns out that Arcana Shadow is serving as the distraction in today's plan, as while she's keeping Anna and Mikuru busy, the others go after Rei, with Nijee being the one to ultimately find her I think. Despite Pochitan's best efforts, they manage to get the key back and turn it into a Hanninda. Rei tries to stop them anyway, but the Thieves mock her, saying that since she's not a PreCure she can't do anything. Rei is confused, as despite what went down in her last focus episode, this is the first she's heard about PreCure.

She does still try to stand her guard regardless, but she obviously can't really do anything against a Hanninda.

Then a very interesting moment happens. Rei, in distress we haven't seen from her before, says that she wishes she had the power of a PreCure, cause then she could protect the school and Pochitan.

Now, in any other PreCure series, that earnest desire alone would've likely led to her awakening the power of a Cure. It's been done tons of times in the past. It happened for Ageha/Cure Butterfly in Hirogaru Sky and for Zukyoon and Kiss in Kimi to Idol PreCure (though more subconsciously).

However, it doesn't happen this time. That doesn't necessarily mean she won't become a Cure, since we don't know who Éclair is yet. Plus there's a popular fan theory that there'll be a fifth yellow Cure, based on this toy that came out a while ago, a theory which seems to have come up again in the wake of Rei's statement.

Also, since we know that 1) Éclair has lost her memories and 2) that Usonoir is currently in possession of Cure Éclair's Makoto Jewel, it's possible that even if whoever Éclair's civilian form is did want to transform, they wouldn't be able to. Either due to not remembering how or by not having the Jewel available to use.

Anyway, Mystique shows up to save Rei and take down the Hanninda, and the day is saved.

Back at the Villain Theater, we see only Usonoir (who we never see just alone there), who is obviously not happy with how things are going. Then he looks at Cure Éclair's Makoto Jewel, which he showed off last episode, and says "Well, I could use this one" and then we just get a menacing cliffhanger, with a message reminding us there's only 7 days now until the Big Day.

We also got a short sequence featuring important quotes from the four Éclair candidates, which I assume are supposed to be clues in and of themselves? This occurs as the girls think over each of the candidates back at the agency at the end of the episode (where Jett is hard at work on the lily perfume they got the idea for last episode).

Honestly we barely touched the overall Éclair mystery in this episode. While, true, each of the other episodes had a frame narrative of the girls and Jett trying to talk through all the evidence, we usually found out something of note from each episode, however minor. But with Rei's, we don't get that. That could mean she's a total red herring (I remember someone saying after the Kurea ep that the episode preview for Rei's ep made it clear that the episode would have animation on par with a filler episode, implying that Rei is unimportant).

But as Shiruku would say, "Don't make assumptions!" For all we know, this could be a misdirect by Toei, and Rei could be important. Only she and Eliza have shown interest in becoming part of the team, and they're the ones people seem to think are less likely to be Éclair (though I have seen some Eliza defenders). Also in Eliza's case, it's more like with Kokoro's case in Kimi to Idol, where Kokoro wanted to join Idol PreCure without knowing about the "fighting monsters" aspect of the gig, and once she did find out she freaked out and ran away, even returning the brooch she'd been given.

If the concept of more Cures had been brought up earlier, Eliza could've been like Sora from Lovepatrina, who started out as support staff at the Lovepatrina base but then awakened as a magical girl herself, the weather-themed Lovepat Shine. I could see her still maybe working at the agency as support. Jett can't run things entirely by himself, after all!

Rei, on the other hand, would make a good support character in the same vein as Yui from Go Princess PreCure. Yui's initially introduced as Haruka/Cure Flora's roommate, but after like 10 episodes she finds out about the Cures. For the rest of the series she mostly hangs out on the sidelines, minding the mascots. She does have some shining moments though, like the time she breaks through the Dream Cage the bad guys put her in through sheer force of will. There was also an episode where she wondered about her place on the team, and if she'd want to be a Cure. At the end, Towa told her that she was like the sun, shining down on the Pretty Cures with her support, and even named her new Premium Key (obtained in that episode) "Sun" in Yui's honor. Rei could play a similar support role, though more in the sense of using her authority to help the girls out (maybe by covering for their absences? Hard to say).

I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Also, I'm not going to do a clue list for this post since as far as I can tell we didn't get any.

Next time, the Big Day comes, Usonoir tries to cover the world in lies, and Cure Éclair's identity is revealed (the episode is called "Cure Éclair no Shoutai," so even if we don't get a full transformation or fight from her, we're guaranteed to find out something). Also based on the preview, Luluka's finally fighting on the Cures' side this time around (she does look pretty upset at whatever Usonoir's doing in another shot of the preview). So that should be interesting!

Till next time!

[Screenshots from PreCure Wiki]

[starry-dreamer]

Been watching the mini-sode version of Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You and it's honestly a pretty fun series. As a supermarket employee myself I relate to Yamata-san having to put on a cheerful persona for work when that's not how she actually is. But as someone closer in age to Sasaki-san I kind of relate to him too. (Though if I had to work overtime for two weeks straight like he did I would probably die).

I don't smoke myself (for health reasons) but I totally understand these two characters needing it to de-stress (I don't drink either but there are times where I feel like I need one 😅). Also kind of funny that Yamata-san's manager, who's 40, uses what appears to be a vape rather than typical cigarettes, since usually I only see younger people using those. (To be fair, she's also shown reading shoujo manga on her phone).

Also related to a scene I saw last night where the manager is like "Hey, Yamata-san, I'm letting you go early cause we're dead and you're the most flexible with shifts." Pretty sure I've had something like that happen to me before (though maybe not for that reason).

Hoping the proper episodes (which started airing a couple weeks ago - the minisodes were a preview Crunchyroll did) are as good...

[starry-dreamer]

Just in time for the reveal this weekend, I put in one vote for each candidate (you can only vote once a day...and yes they do have an official English option). Cause honestly I can't choose!

#WhoIsCureEclair

[starry-dreamer]

"Please note that the voting results will not determine who becomes Cure Éclair."

Idk why but I find it amusing that Toei had to even specify this. Are there kid fans out there who maybe thought this poll would actually affect this? (Probably).

[starry-dreamer]

Star Detective PreCure Episode 23 ("Who is Cure Éclair?" Arc Part 3) Thoughts

[Pic from @swordofsunrises]

The "Who is Cure Éclair?" Arc continues, and this time it's Kurea's turn!

I saw a lot of people after this episode aired being convinced that Kurea HAS to be Éclair, and that there's no point in even doing the Rei episode next time. And to be fair, the episode puts up a strong case for Kurea.

In fact, most of the episode focuses on Luluka and Kurea. Anna and Mikuru are pretty secondary to the plot, which is unusual.

Basically, Luluka decides to visit Patissierie ChuChu (yes, that's what Kurea's bakery is called 😆) and it's clear from how Kurea and her boss react that she's a regular customer. For ice cream, obviously. Not sure why a patissierie is serving ice cream, but ice cream parfaits are popular in Japan I think. Apparently she usually gets her ice cream to-go, because the boss says "Why don't you dine in today?", suggesting she doesn't usually eat in. Which honestly makes sense for Luluka.

Also, right before Luluka comes in, Kurea is seen putting together a vase of flowers for one of the tables - and it looks like they're lilies. Coincidence? Guess it depends on whether you think she's Éclair. (The flowers have technically been associated with Luluka too, through the photo the London office sent).

When Kurea brings Luluka her ice cream, she also brings her a couple cakes on the house: a blueberry tart and a millefeuille, stating that there are other customers who like those two kinds of cakes.

Luluka wonders if the Star Detectives are also regulars at the bakery (odd that they wouldn't have run into each other if so, but Anna and Mikuru do have school and stuff).

Not long after, Kurea's boss gets a phone order from Jett for cakes to be delivered. Kurea offers to deliver them.

(Oh, also Luluka notices a photo on the wall that, as it turns out, is of Kurea's boss when he trained in France at 16. This is also where we learn Kurea is also 16. This photo becomes important later).

Kurea brings the cakes to the detective agency. As Luluka deduced, the ones who like the blueberry tart and the millefeuille are in fact Anna and Mikuru respectively. Anna just likes the taste of hers, while for Mikuru the millefeuille reminds her of her time abroad - though she specifically mentions London this time. While I don't doubt that French bakeries exist in London, it seems weird she wouldn't have tried it when she was in France (a country she mentioned earlier visiting I think). Unless Mikuru got her cities mixed up. We still don't know why she was living abroad in the first place, though. Also, this now makes TWO PreCures who have ties to millefeuille (the other being Ciel from Kira Kira PreCure A La Mode - heck, the climax of the Kira Kira movie has them making a giant millefeuille to help defeat the enemy).

Kurea (who Mikuru has persuaded to stay for tea) notices the girls' case board, which currently mostly has stuff for the Éclair case. Anna tells Kurea it's for a case, but that they're not sure they'll be able to actually solve it, since the person they're looking for has lost her memory. Kurea mentions how smell is often related to memory and how she tries to incorporate that into what she bakes. The girls consider this angle, but since Kurea leaves soon after, it's not really explored further.

Over at the Villain Theater, the Tome of Mirages reveals the next Makoto Jewel will be at a place associated with sweets, and once again Luluka knows exactly what the prophecy is referring to. She gets assigned the job of stealing the Crystal yet again, though you can tell she's real reluctant about it. Goemon also volunteers to help, because of course he does.

Luluka goes to the bakery and orders ice cream again, this time insisting on sitting on the terrace. When Kurea brings the ice cream, Luluka cuts to the chase and just straight up gives a calling card to Kurea in person, saying she will steal the photo of Kurea's boss that day at 6pm. Kurea is shocked that Luluka is part of the Phantom Thieves, but boldly stands her ground and says she won't let Luluka take the photo.

Flash forward to a few hours later, and Anna, Mikuru, and Jett arrive at the bakery (Kurea had called them earlier about the calling card). Luluka stands before them in the street. They say they won't let her take the photo, and Kurea deduces that Luluka purposely went to the trouble of giving the calling card so that Kurea would call the Star Detectives (after all, Kurea says, Luluka could've easily taken the photo at any time). Luluka's reaction to this suggests Kurea may be on to something.

However, Anna and Mikuru's efforts were in vain, as while everyone was outside, Goemon just snuck in and stole the photo anyways. 🤦🏻‍♀️ He runs off with it, and a funny sequence ensues where Mikuru uses the Pre-Kit Light to create a bobsled (or "bobsleigh," as they call it) to chase after Goemon with, which they then almost crash due to having no way of controlling the speed (thankfully Pochitan activates her big balloon form and stops it in time). Goemon is impressed by their persistence, though, and turns the photo into a Hanninda, which ends up being chef-themed. Goemon asks Luluka to help, so she transforms, as do Anna and Mikuru.

So the fight goes basically like normal. However, unbeknownst to the others, Kurea, who had been told to remain behind at the bakery, has followed them somehow, and is able to ENTER THE SPECIAL BARRIER AROUND THE FIGHT. Mind you, not even freaking Conan Edogawa was given this privilege. This also makes Kurea the first Éclair candidate to be able to do this (we haven't seen it with Shiruku - as both times she's appeared she's been nowhere near the battle - but both Eliza and Rei were locked out of the barrier in earlier episodes). We are given no clue as to how she was able to do this either - the last time we saw something like this was with Takumi in Delicious Party, and even he wasn't able to enter the Delicious Field until he got access to his father's CooKing Kingdom stone, which he used to become the Tuxedo Kamen-esque hero Black Pepper.

Luluka becomes aware of Kurea's presence and abandons the fight, leaving fighting the Cures to Goemon, which he is more than happy to do.

Luluka - or Arcana Shadow, rather - confronts Kurea, and they have a chat.

Obviously, Arcana Shadow demands to know what Kurea is doing there. Kurea then calls Arcana Shadow "Luluka," which shocks her, though how Kurea figured out Arcana Shadow's identity I have no idea. (I guess she does know Luluka better than Anna and Mikuru do). Kurea says she felt a hunch in her heart that the photograph would be there. Arcana Shadow again tells her she shouldn't be there, but Kurea says she is following her "truth" (the actual Japanese word used is "kirameki," literally "sparkle"). Shortly after, Mystique takes down the Hanninda and the barrier begins to fade. As Arcana Shadow turns to leave, Kurea asks her why she is working for the Phantom Thieves. She replies, kind of sarcastically, that she's "following her truth." Kurea watches her go, but calls out that she's welcome back at the bakery anytime, and she looks forward to seeing Luluka again.

Anna and Mikuru return the photo to Kurea. Kurea, seeing the vase of lilies she assembled earlier, comments that lilies mean purity in hanakotoba (Japanese flower language), but can also mean someone has taken the wrong path. It's pretty clear she's thinking about Luluka.

Back at the agency, the girls and Jett wander in the garden, discussing how Kurea could be Cure Éclair, meaning they have three possible candidates now (there are sequences like this at the end of each of the episodes of this mini-arc so far, as if to remind people of the evidence collected thus far). They come across some big, beautiful, rather unusual lilies. Jett says they were planted before he arrived, but have only just bloomed. Mikuru mentions that the flower's scent is the same scent she smelled in her bedroom at the agency when she first moved in. If, as they've already deduced, Mikuru's bedroom used to be Éclair's, then maybe Éclair liked that scent. Remembering what Kurea said about scent and memory, the girls wonder if smelling the lily smell could help bring back Éclair's memory. They look at Jett, and he says he'll get to work (obviously making a perfume or something - however, based on upcoming plot summaries that have been revealed, it's going to take him until episode 25 to finish it).

We go back to the Villain Theater, where we see Luluka and Mashutan on the main stage - where they've never been before - and in the spotlight. It becomes obvious pretty quickly that they are in BIG TROUBLE.

Usonoir scolds her for not retrieving the Makoto Jewel as he ordered. Luluka says nothing.

Then Usonoir makes an unexpected move. He summons something into his hand and says "You need this, don't you?"

Yep, that's Éclair's Makoto Jewel. Naturally, Luluka and Mashutan are shocked to see it. Usonoir warns them that they'll have to bring back a Makoto Jewel in exchange if they want this one. The "promised day" is nigh, after all.

Luluka is a bit hesitant, but then Usonoir ends the discussion the usual way with the group's motto - "Lie lie sir." Goemon is then shown saying it too.

We zoom in on Luluka, and...she does it as well. Pose and all.

Now as I recall this is the first time Luluka has done the motto. Usually Mashutan does it on her behalf. Did she feel compelled to do it this time, or is this a sign of her getting pulled further into the Guild's clutches? After all, she said before that no one controls her moves but her, but maybe this is a sign things are about to change.

As if to emphasize the seriousness of this situation, we then get this overlay shot, with text saying there are 14 days remaining until the "promised day."

This is basically the same kind of overlay text they've been using in the outros to show how many weeks there are until Éclair's reveal. Only more menacing.

So, yeah, things are heating up.

Not sure we got much in the way of clues here, but I'll do a list anyway. Here goes:

Kurea and Luluka know each other, as Luluka is a regular customer at Kurea's bakery.

Kurea says the only time Luluka looks happy is when she's eating ice cream.

Kurea tells Anna and Mikuru about how smell is tied to memory, information they use for their deductions at the end of the episode.

Kurea was able to enter the barrier around the battle, something no civilian has been able to do thus far.

Kurea now knows Arcana Shadow's identity (or at least guessed it - she couldn't see Luluka's actual reaction as Luluka was facing away from her at the time).

Usonoir has Éclair's Makoto Jewel in his possession, though we don't know how he obtained it.

Usonoir knows Luluka is looking for that Makoto Jewel specifically. (TBH, I think he had begun to suspect something was up with her, since he's been picking on her more recently).

A certain type of lily has just bloomed in the agency's garden, and it has the same scent that Mikuru smelled in her bedroom when she first moved in. Thus, it could be a scent Éclair liked (also the lilies were there before Jett showed up, but are only blooming just now - which could be a reference to the Éclair prophecy from the Tome of Mirages about a butterfly visiting flowers).

So that's it for this episode. Next time we get the final part of the mini-arc, featuring Rei! And then we get the long-awaited Episode 25, the one promising Éclair's reveal. Based on the released upcoming episode titles/summaries, though, we may have to wait a tad longer. Episode 25 has the Promised Day happening and Usonoir actually managing to blanket the area in lies apparently, while Episode 26 (the one we only have a title for) is called "The Rebirth of Cure Éclair." It might be one of those situations where Episode 25 ends on a cliffhanger of Éclair showing up or something, and then Episode 26 continues the story. Hard to say yet though.

Looking forward to seeing how this mystery gets solved!

[Screenshots from PreCure Wiki]

[artsymlm24]

made a fanmade eclair transformation with my candidate, kurea!

[starry-dreamer]

I actually kinda like this! The music is kind of similar to Arcana Shadow's, but happier. Also the idea of her transforming using the Loupe is kind of a cool idea, though since we know toys of hers are coming out, I kinda think she'll have her own separate item.

[starry-dreamer]

So found out I could've been watching LuluttoLilly on Tubi this whole time?!

[starry-dreamer]

So saw this on Instagram. They had been hinting that we would get some update on the series soon, so not that surprised to see this. Just confirmed to see if any other sources were reporting this date, and it's reported on Crunchyroll News as well. So I guess it's legit. It seems to have been announced by the show's animation studio, Studio Trigger, both on its Twitter account and during its Anime Expo panel.

Kinda bummed I have to wait so long to see more Dungeon Meshi, but at least we have a date! Guess that makes two animes I'll be waiting till 2027 for, since Dandadan Season 3 doesn't come out till then either (it may be 3 animes if I decide to wait for the new One Piece anime rather than just watching the original...I told a coworker I was just going to watch the remake anime since several people on Reddit had told me to do that anyway, and maybe check out the Netflix series in the meantime, and he insisted I should watch the original anime instead, implying nothing else could compare. I'm not opposed to watching the OG One Piece...I'm just intimidated by the large episode count).

In the meantime, I'm going to try to check out the Dungeon Meshi exhibit happening right now in L.A. It looks really cool!

View this post on Instagram

[starry-dreamer]

Star Detective PreCure Episodes 21 & 22 ("Who Is Cure Éclair?" Arc Parts 1 & 2) Thoughts

[Erizu pic from @swordofsunrises; Shiruku gif from @hothotmiso]

So forgot to do a post after episode 21 so just combining two eps again.

So as I said last time, Toei announced a mini-arc leading up to Cure Éclair's reveal, and they did not waste any time. Each episode so far has a special intro and outro bit. The intro just has Anna and Mikuru wondering who Cure Éclair is and introducing the focus candidate of the week, with Mikuru adding that each week's episode will have clues in it. The outro takes the place of the next episode preview and looks like this:

(You can still see the episode previews on the official PreCure YouTube though)

Episode 21 focuses on Eliza, and is positioned as a sequel to her previous focus ep (the title is even "Detective Ellie's Case Book, Part 2?"). Basically Eliza shows up at the agency and tries to get Anna and Mikuru to hire her again. Except this time it's not book research...she's basically running away from her upcoming deadline 😅 As becomes evident when her editor comes running in after her. I'm not sure we're even told why Eliza was avoiding the deadline (the ending implies writer's block, but it's not clear). The girls do humor Eliza though and decide to have her try solving a case as a "test" before becoming a proper employee (though Anna mentions she never had to take a test, a reference back to the first couple episodes). Except...no clients show up. So they kill time by giving Eliza and her editor a tour of the agency, which gives us a chance to really see the place for the first time. We see both girls' bedrooms for the first time (I think we just saw Anna's before) - they're basically identical in size, included furniture, and general layout, just mirrored in terms of window and bed placement. Eliza (or maybe her editor) comments on how, even though the rooms are otherwise identical, each has a different feel based on how each girl decorated it.

The episode actually starts at the Villain Theater though. A new prophecy shows up in the Tome of Mirages, saying a blue butterfly will return and land in four different places looking for its flower. This is pretty obviously a reference to Éclair (who has a blue butterfly motif) and the four candidates being featured this arc. None of the villains seem all too happy about this development; it seems that Éclair gave them a run for their money before. Nijee in particular seems notably distressed. I don't know if this is supposed to mean something or if it's just cause he's a wimp. Luluka is also disturbed, but in that quiet way she has. She comments that no one will be able to find Cure Éclair anyway, so there's no use worrying. As usual, she clearly knows something she's not telling us.

The Makoto Jewel item of the week ends up being a Detective Ellie plushie Eliza's editor has on her phone. The thief in question is Ageseine, though we don't actually see the moment she pulls off the theft (we only know it's her cause Luluka decides to go to the same location on her own and indirectly reveals the info). Unfortunately, she gets away, and a situation similar to the one in Eliza's first episode ensues, where they have to find the villain in the midst of a crowd. The girls even comment that this situation is similar to back then. Eliza comes up with the simple idea of calling the editor's phone (since the thief didn't detach the plushie from the phone), which of course reveals Ageseine's location pretty easily.

A battle ensues, with both Ageseine and Cure Arcana Shadow joining the fray. The girls tell Ageseine to give the plushie back, but she fires back "Give me my photo back" and reveals she saw the photo the girls found by the lake on their bulletin board at the agency, that she took it, and that it was of another PreCure. Jett says that not even the London office knows of another PreCure in the area, and Ageseine is amused that once again the villains know something the Cures don't. Luluka shows up around this time, scolding Ageseine for talking too much. The girls try to get information out of Luluka, but as usual, Luluka keeps her cards close to her chest. The only reason the girls find out anything is because Mashutan accidentally blurts out stuff - she reveals the other Cure is called "Cure Éclair" and also that Anna's bedroom used to be Luluka's (by expressing her frustration at how unstylish Anna's curtains are, something she also complained about earlier).

We also learn from Eliza's editor that Eliza has actually always wanted to be a detective, but has been unable to fulfill that dream, so she lives the detective life vicariously through her stories instead. Not sure if that's supposed to be a clue or not, but it's something.

So, assuming there are clues to the Cure Éclair mystery in each of these episodes, what clues do we get from the Eliza episode??

Anna and Mikuru learn the photo they found at the lake was taken by Ageseine, and that it depicts a PreCure they were previously unaware of.

According to Jett, the London HQ does not know of another Cure operating in Makoto Mirai Town besides Anna, Mikuru, and Luluka, while the Phantom Thieves do know about her.

From Mashutan, they learn the missing Cure is named Cure Éclair.

Also from Mashutan, we learn that Anna's room used to be Luluka's. Coupling this with Eliza's earlier comment that Anna and Mikuru's rooms look almost identical, Anna and Mikuru deduce that Luluka may have been working as part of a duo at the agency, maybe with Éclair.

We briefly see Eliza notice the photo Ageseine took on the girls' bulletin board and look at it as if it means something to her.

The prophecy in the Tome of Mirages mentions the "blue butterfly" visiting four flowers, which likely refers to the four candidates.

Luluka seems to know something about Cure Éclair that she's not revealing. During the fight, she claims "we don't know who she is" and "she only showed up that one time" but I personally think she's lying about this (we know she already wants to keep the girls out of her personal business).

So now onto episode 22, which stars Shiruku!

This is the first time we've seen Shiruku, interestingly, since her debut episode - unlike with the other candidates, who've gotten multiple episodes before now. This may mean that she's not as important to the Éclair mystery or could even be a red herring entirely. (I did see a theory that she could be Éclair's fairy Shushutan, since we don't know what happened to them either).

Anyway, Anna and Mikuru get invited to a play that Shiruku is appearing in. Though it appears it wasn't just because they're friends - Shiruku has received a calling card from the Phantom Thieves, saying her earring will be stolen that night. Shiruku has had this earring since her debut audition and wears it to remind herself of that time. Anna and Mikuru promise to investigate.

Now since a calling card is involved, you can probably guess that Luluka is behind this heist. In fact, Usonoir specifically picks her, though you can tell she's not interested. Goemon enthusiastically agrees to go with her (he still very much views her as his protégé, it seems). It's also interesting that when Usonoir states where the next Makoto Jewel is, he only says it's on "the ear of a performing star," but Luluka immediately knows it's Shiruku. Given what we learn later, I suspect Luluka's been doing her own secret research on the side and probably would have approached Shiruku even if Usonoir didn't assign her to.

After some initial investigation, Anna and Mikuru decide to split up and do some interviewing. Anna will interview the audience, while Mikuru will tackle the venue staff. Anna runs into the bob-haired girl from the drama club and the girl who wrote the guidebook for the school trip, who have apparently seen the play multiple times. They fill us in on what the play's about - that it's a two-person play, starring Shiruku and this famous actress named Sakura Yoshino, where two friends that were close have a falling out cause of some kind of betrayal. (Which, come to think of it, could be foreshadowing, since we still don't know much about Luluka and Éclair's dynamic). Unfortunately, Anna isn't able to get much more info, because Pochitan suddenly starts freaking out about something and starts dragging Anna away by her strap again.

This time it isn't a Hanninda, though - Pochitan somehow sensed that Luluka was in the crowd. Why she feels the need to drag Anna towards her I am not really sure. Obviously, Pochitan knows Luluka is a Phantom Thief, but is that the real reason?

Anyways, they don't really interact, but this does clue Anna in that the Phantom Thieves are already at the venue (despite it being well before the announced theft time of 7 p.m.). She decides to tell Mikuru so they can in turn warn Shiruku.

Mikuru ends up not having much luck interviewing the staff, and her attempt to use the Pre-Kit Light to pose as Sakura Yoshino's makeup artist ends up failing almost immediately when Mikuru mistakes Sakura Yoshino as a Phantom Thief in disguise (incorrectly) and then the real makeup artist shows up. Mikuru still stays in the disguise though, as she's in it when she reunites with Anna (also Anna recognizes her in it, so I guess fellow Star Detectives maybe aren't fooled by the disguises?? Though if that were true they would've seen through Luluka's disguises).

Meanwhile Luluka decides to be extra ballsy and sneak into Shiruku's dressing room...disguised as Anna. The scene is set up really well actually...I initially thought it was Shiruku that was the fake. Cause why would one of the Phantom Thieves disguise themselves as one of the Star Detectives and risk putting their victim on alert? Granted, I could see Nijee doing this (he tends to do things for the thrill without really thinking it through), but he wasn't the featured thief here. But no, she was disguised as Anna, and honestly her appeal to get Shiruku to give her the earring for safekeeping was pretty convincing. The only reason Luluka fails is because Shiruku is a super observant person and notices things Luluka left out, like that Anna calls Shiruku "Miss Shiruku."

That being said, Shiruku does still agree to give up the earring, despite the memories attached to it, because she says she can always make new memories. This is where Goemon pops into the scene (he was apparently doing a ninja fake wall jutsu the whole time 😂). However, before he and Luluka can take off with it, the real Anna and Mikuru show up, and Shiruku leaves things to them, as she has to go do her play.

We switch to outside the theater, where Goemon turns the earring into a Hanninda and everyone transforms. Anna and Mikuru try to press Luluka for information again, hoping to confirm their theory that she worked as a duo with Cure Éclair.

Luluka neither confirms nor denies the idea. Not just because she's being secretive as usual, but because, to her, it doesn't matter.

Why? Because..."The Cure Éclair you're looking for doesn't remember. She lost her memories."

Well, that was a bombshell we didn't exactly expect. I guess in retrospect it makes sense that whoever Éclair's civilian form is could have lost her memories, either as a backlash of whatever attack she used to destroy the Makoto Jewel, or as a cost of the attack, or because of her essence literally splitting apart (if the popular fusion theory ends up being true). My best guess is that maybe Luluka found this out because she was actively trying to jog someone's memories of being Éclair. After all, in this episode, she already knew the earring that the Makoto Jewel of the Week was in belonged to Shiruku. And the earring does look a lot like the one seen in Éclair's official art. Later on, we also see a bouquet on Shiruku's dressing table of what looks like white lilies, a flower that has been associated with Éclair (the blue butterfly landing on one in the opening sequence, for instance), with no indication as to who they came from. We also don't know in what way the calling card was delivered, only that Shiruku found it in her dressing room.

Also Luluka seems kinda sad and defeated when she delivers this information, suggesting it is a major disappointment to her.

Also I've seen it noted that Goemon visibly reacts to the girls mentioning that Luluka used to work at the detective agency, implying he didn't previously know this information?? Is Luluka's cover among the Thieves going to be blown now??

Anyway, long story short, the girls finish the battle and deal with the Hanninda (though it's not an easy battle), though they end up missing Shiruku's entire play in the process (not sure how - surely the fight didn't last like 2 hours). Shiruku invites them to just come see it again, and the girls agree.

Also we see, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, that the ice cream we see Luluka eating in this episode appears to be Silky Ice, the same brand Shiruku was doing commercials for!

So, what clues do we learn from Shiruku's episode?

The big clue, obviously, is that Éclair has lost her memories. How exactly this came about we don't know yet. It's also implied heavily that Luluka learned this information by trying to awaken someone's memories who she believed was Éclair (possibly Shiruku).

The bouquet of lilies that I just mentioned. It's a flower associated with Éclair, and we don't know where the bouquet came from. It's not even noticed by the characters, but still appears rather prominently in the background, which makes me think it can't possibly be nothing.

That the episode with the reveal of Éclair having lost her memories also has a targeted item directly indicated to have precious memories attached, which the owner is able to give away without a second thought, is interesting.

As I mentioned before, I saw one fan post a theory about Shiruku not being Éclair but instead being Éclair's fairy, Shushutan. Shushutan is based on a tanuki, a Japanese folklore creature known for being able to transform into other things and also for generally causing mischief. This could work with Shiruku being an actress and her seeming a bit less mature and more mischievous than the other Éclair candidates. (Shiruku also seems to be considered less as a viable candidate for being Éclair now too, if the fandom reaction is anything to go off of. I think people assume she's a red herring because her being Éclair seems too obvious).

There might be other clues, but those are the only ones I could think of.

Anyway, next time we have the Kurea focus episode, which means we're ending with Rei. I haven't actually voted for a candidate yet. I'm kind of favoring Eliza, even though she isn't a popular choice, but I'm also a writer so I may be biased. I did think Rei was a very convincing case in her debut episode, but we'll have to see if that holds up.

Till next time!

[Anna and Mikuru gif from @hothotmiso; Luluka pic from @yuricharisma]

[starry-dreamer]

Star Detective PreCure Episodes 19-20 Thoughts

Combining these two eps just so I can catch up.

Both of these episodes are filler, case-of-the-week type episodes. Knowing their plans now for Cure Éclair's reveal (more on that later), I guess they wanted some padding between that and the Conan crossover.

(Also, while the Detective Conan half of the crossover aired between Episodes 18 and 19 of Star Detective, you don't need to watch it to continue on with Star Detective, as it's not referenced in Episode 19 at all. Given the recent announcement of a collab merch line between Detective Conan and Star Detective, maybe they'll reunite down the line, but there's been no confirmation of that yet).

Episode 19 is kind of a "bottle episode," as they call it in media analysis, taking place almost entirely on the train Anna, Mikuru, and their classmates are taking to their overnight class trip (we're never told where they're going, but from the montage at the end, this doesn't seem to be the stereotypical "class trip to Osaka" that many Tokyo-set animes have, including past seasons of PreCure).

It also seems to be set in almost real time, since the battle in this episode has a time limit of sorts, where Answer and Mystique only have until the train's next stop in 30 minutes' time to take down Goemon, or he'll escape.

So yeah Goemon is the villain this time. Like in episode 7, he uses his labyrinth-making powers here again, except that this time the stakes are a bit higher due to them being on a moving train and the time limit I mentioned. (NGL the idea of a labyrinth on a train did make me think of the Mugen Train arc/movie of Demon Slayer, though from what little I've seen of that, I think that labyrinth was way more dangerous).

Goemon uses basically the same M.O. as in episode 7 - sneak into some place, steal the thing with the Jewel in it, and then when the Cures come after him he creates a labyrinth to try to slow them down. (He does actually attempt a disguise this time - as a lady selling food on the train - but it's pretty obvious it's him. It's like he doesn't even try).

The item in question this time is a handwritten notebook one of the girls' classmates made of research on the place they're going on their trip. Once the girls discover it's gone, they immediately decide to help, claiming it's because they're detectives. (I've got to say, them having Anna and Mikuru go public as detectives to their classmates early on was pretty smart, as it gives them an actually reasonable excuse to rush off after the Phantom Thieves).

The mysteries this time happen in old-school train cars. I saw someone say it gave them Murder on the Orient Express vibes, which I do get as that's one of the most well-known mysteries set on a moving train. They were pretty clever with the mysteries too - one case hinged on an offhand remark by one suspect that it's raining outside, meaning this other guy's statement about closing a curtain so it wouldn't be too bright for the sleeping "victim" wouldn't hold up. (One of the witness's statements also relied on her seeing something in a reflection too).

Anyway, long story short, the girls get out of the labyrinth and challenge Goemon. However, they end up doing this on top of the train (we also see Anna use the Pre-Kit Light to create a simple ladder to help them get there, which is the first object other than a blob we've seen the Light make I think), which obviously comes with its own issues (they almost lose the Hanninda after the train goes into a tunnel and it gets knocked off the train, which is a problem as they haven't beaten it yet).

Thankfully, they are able to safely defeat the monster, get back on the train, and get back to their school trip, which looks like it was pretty fun based on the ending montage.

(Also at the end we see one of the girls' classmates carrying a disposable camera and saying "I only have one shot left"...I remember those days 😅)

Also I think this might be the first Goemon episode since episode 7 where Luluka was totally absent. I think they must be saving her screentime for later this cour.

Episode 20 has the girls going to an island after receiving a letter from the mayor there, who is worried that the island is going to disappear. When I initially saw the preview for this, I thought maybe they'd find some new item or learn some new lore on this island, kind of like how they found the Prism Hopish in Futari wa PreCure. This...sadly did not happen.

Instead we got a kinda cute filler ep where the girls investigate some strange happenings that the mayor thinks are clues the island is going to disappear, due to there being this old legend where a fairy appeared and made the island disappear.

However, it turns out that the explanation is much simpler than originally thought. As Sherlock Holmes famously said: "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Basically, there is no fairy causing problems - this time at least (more on that in a sec). It was actually one of the mayor's granddaughters causing the strange happenings. This was because her younger sister's watch stopped, and one of the parts of the legend is that after the fairy appeared, time started moving again. So to cheer up her sister, she told her the fairy would come and fix her watch, and caused the other signs in the legend to happen so her sister would think the fairy was real.

The mayor is surprised when he learns the truth, but loves his granddaughters too much to be actually mad.

Unfortunately, the happy ending is crashed by Nijee, who was sent to the island to find a Makoto Jewel. The girls question why he is sopping wet (he flew there on a hang glider and accidentally crashed into the water 😆) but Nijee excuses it as "being stylish" (or something) and steals the younger girl's watch, turning it into a Hanninda. Nijee tries to make the Hanninda mimic the girls' Jewel Cure Watch sequence from their transformation (if you look closely in one shot, you can see his lips moving too, so he's literally ventriloquizing for the monster), which they don't really appreciate. They transform, eventually beat the monster, problem solved.

As the episode ends, Jett shows up, holding a box of manju (despite all the manju shops on the island being closed because of the legend). The girls had called him earlier about the mystery, and he seemed to recognize the name of the island, so he apparently decided to head over...in some tiny boat he invented (which must be fast for him to get there that quickly - the girls had to take a ferry to get there).

So it comes out that Jett actually washed up on this same island during a storm 100 years ago (I had honestly forgotten he was 200+ years old) and helped out the villagers.

All the things from the legend were just things he did to replace the broken wooden boat he rode to get there (he had gone sailing in search of adventure) - cutting trees with a chainsaw, drawing his boat plans on a pillar (the graffiti in the legend), etc.

He also fixed the local clock tower, which explains the "time restarting" thing. (He also fixes the girl's watch for her). He must have made quite an impression, because they apparently renamed the island Jieito Island in his honor (it was previously called Manju Island). This, by the way, is why the island "disappeared"; it didn't physically vanish, the name just changed. (The girls find this out from an old turtle on the island using the Pre-Kit Gummies. I had forgotten turtles could live super long).

Oh also there's a funny moment toward the end where a seagull steals Jett's lollipop, startling Jett so much he turns into his fairy form...right in front of the mayor's granddaughters. Oops.

Overall, kinda fun little episodes.

So...as for that reveal I mentioned. Basically, Toei revealed that Cure Éclair will be officially revealed in Episode 25, airing on July 19th. To lead up to this, there will be four episodes, with each featuring one of the main candidates: Eliza, Shiruku, Rei, and Kurea. (The video below is advertising the Shiruku ep, hence the thumbnail).

Along with this, they've opened a website where starting June 21st (the day the first episode of the arc, starring Eliza, airs) people can vote on which of the candidates they think is Éclair. They're also putting physical ballot boxes at the PreCure Store locations in Japan as well as a few event venues. If you vote at the physical boxes, you get a special certificate!

Now I kind of doubt the votes will actually influence which one becomes Éclair, but it's still kind of a fun way to go about this! Also I do kind of appreciate that Toei is narrowing down the pool of people who could be Éclair with this. (There's been a popular fan theory for a while that she could be anyone - Nijee is a top contender, as is Usonoir - while other people suspect they could do what they did with Cure Ace's reveal during Doki Doki and have Éclair's civilian form be someone we've never even met, though that would be kind of lame probably).

This could also be why we've been seeing less of Luluka. If she was Éclair's partner as many suspect, she will likely be very interested in the developments of this arc. It could also be tied to her "redemption" arc. Though I saw someone note that, in one of the recently released teasers for the Star Detective movie that's coming out in September, Luluka still seems rather distant from the other girls, which made them think her redemption would happen later. And while that might be true - maybe Éclair could even help bring it about - I think it's more likely that it will happen before then (September would be putting us in the 30s in episodes, which would be kinda late for Luluka to properly join the team, given she's been featured in the opening and ending since the beginning, and Éclair definitely seems more poised to be the mid-season this time around) and that maybe she just isn't used to having friends. She also just comes across as a more serious character to me overall.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how things pan out! We also know some big thing is going down in July, due to the prophecy Usonoir mentioned back in episode 13, so maybe Éclair's reveal will come out of whatever that threatening event is (Cure Felice was revealed during a significant battle in Mahoutsukai, so it's not like they haven't done this before). Time will tell.

[All pics from the PreCure Wiki]

[starry-dreamer]

The Star Detective PreCure/Detective Conan Collab (Star Detective PreCure Episode 18/Detective Conan 2026 Special 1 Thoughts)

Sorry for being so late with this! I was busy with other stuff. Technically I've missed episodes 18-20 with posts, but since Episode 18 was part of a crossover I'm giving it a separate post, and covering the other two in their own post.

So yes, as the title suggests, I did watch both sides of the collab. For some reason it's numbered as a special on the Detective Conan side (rather than being Episode 1203 as I expected), while on the Star Detective side it was just treated as a regular episode.

I think people were suspicious about this collab cause the last time PreCure did this kind of crossover, it was kinda lame. That one was a crossover between Wonderful PreCure and Crayon Shin-chan. Crayon Shin-Chan is pretty popular in Japan (even though as far as I can tell it's pretty crass) but I don't think it's that popular here. (Case in point, I went to some store here not too long ago - Miniso I think - and basically all their Crayon Shin-chan collab merch was on clearance). The crossover was really more of a quick cameo thing on both sides iirc.

This time though I think they did better. The Conan characters were a big part of the overall episode on the Star Detective side. The Conan side was a little different in this regard, but I think that was because Detective Conan has a history of being really against magic existing in that universe, so incorporating the Cures into that side of things would be a lot harder.

So...anyway, in the Star Detective episode, we had Anna and Mikuru helping to set up a museum exhibit at the same museum from episode 11, a job they apparently got roped into doing by Jett, who apparently knows the artist whose work is being featured (though it's never explained how they met or anything, or how he had the connections to get her stuff displayed there). The art pieces in question are glass sculptures, with the highlight piece being a glass slipper, styled after the one in the Cinderella fairy tale (they do seem to like referencing Cinderella in Star Detective). However, just as some package is getting delivered to the display space, there's a small explosion and tons of glass slippers spill out all over the place. In the investigation that ensues, it turns out the original sculpture has disappeared, and the other slippers are just dupes made of resin. Looks like the Phantom Thieves have struck again!

Anna and Mikuru volunteer to help investigate, and Jett decides to leave them to it, since he has some stuff to do back at the agency along with the sculptor lady. The museum head also leaves around this time and stubbornly refuses to have her or Jett's bags searched (since Luluka's heist, they've upped security). This becomes important later.

It is actually odd that Luluka herself is absent from this episode - her first absence since Episode 11 - and Jett is also largely absent. I imagine this was to provide screentime for the Conan characters (and also so Conan's deductions wouldn't be overshadowed by Luluka, maybe - though in retrospect it would've been funny to see them go head-to-head, deductive genius to deductive genius 😆).

Anyway, the girls are investigating (along with the police) but getting nowhere, when all the sudden...

"Hey, oneechan-tachi, what are you doing?"

Meet Conan Edogawa, ladies and gentlemen.

This whole first encounter between the two is honestly kind of funny. I had forgotten this gag that Detective Conan has where Conan will deliberately pretend to act like a kid so he won't seem suspicious, even when he's clearly the smartest person in the room. In case you're not familiar with Detective Conan, the basic premise is that Conan is actually a teenage genius detective named Shinichi Kudo - or Jimmy Kudo in the English version - who after solving a mystery at a theme park gets drugged by members of a mysterious criminal syndicate, with the intent of killing him to cover their tracks. Instead of killing him, the drug turned him into a 6-year-old. (He still has the mind of a high schooler though). After his parents basically abandon him to do stuff abroad, he ends up going to live with his best friend Ran Mouri (Rachel Moore in the English version) and her dad Kōgoro (Richard Moore in the English version) and helping Kōgoro, a pretty inept private detective, solve crimes under the assumed name Conan Edogawa (borrowed from Arthur Conan Doyle and famous Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Ranpo), while secretly trying to find the syndicate so he can go back to his proper age. (I hadn't thought about this, but in some video I watched, someone said he changes his name to keep the Syndicate from finding him and harming people he cares about, which I either didn't know or had forgotten. Makes a lot of sense).

(Also got to give a shout-out to this review video of this episode. I saw it in a post on Threads, where the person said they were going to geek out about the Conan parts of it, and they do do a pretty good job of explaining the Conan references if you're unfamiliar with Detective Conan, or, if, like me, you are familiar with it but haven't watched/read it in a while).

Also it turns out I was wrong. I thought from the preview that Mikuru was fangirling over Conan, but actually she's fangirling over Kōgoro. Which makes sense, since he gets the credit for all the cases Conan solves for him (since, again, Conan is trying not to draw attention to himself). Of course, as someone familiar with Detective Conan, this is hilarious since I know all too well who's really solving those cases 😂

Conan doesn't actually help the girls investigate at this point, though, as he and the Mouris actually have to go deal with this other case they got summoned there for (something involving a monster appearing, which freaks Anna and Mikuru out, since they assume it's a Hanninda).

So the girls are left to their own devices again, and eventually determine the slipper must've gone to the agency, possibly hidden in Jett's bag without his knowledge.

Unfortunately, they get there, and the slipper is not in Jett's bag. The museum lady taunts them about this, and in her defense, Anna and Mikuru aren't looking like very good detectives right now (despite Jett's earlier vote of confidence).

Fortunately for them, Conan, Kōgoro, and Ran show up again, having found the place because Anna and Mikuru gave Conan their business cards. Ran claims Conan wanted to see the place, though I kinda suspect that was just some "kid excuse" of his again. Oh, and also they took care of their case already (it wasn't a Hanninda, just a guy in a monster costume in a film shoot...which makes one wonder why they hired a detective in the first place 🤷🏻‍♀️).

Eventually Conan seems to have figured out the answer, but he never explains his deductions himself, so he crouches in a corner to execute his usual method of knocking out Kōgoro and having him explain it. But at the last minute, Anna walks in the way and gets hit by Conan's tranquilizer dart instead. Which explains why the preview showed Anna appearing to get hit by it. I had figured it didn't make much sense for him to use Anna for his deductions, and I was right - while he does use her, it's an accident. (In an obvious Conan reference, she even properly lands sitting up after getting hit, like Kōgoro does in these situations). Conan's reaction says it all.

Obviously this isn't ideal for Conan, but he has no choice but to go with it. So he somehow manages to make his voice-changer bow tie (another gadget of his) match Anna's voice, and spouts a bunch of scientific stuff that basically boils down to: somebody hid the slipper in one of the beakers of liquid in the lab they're in, using some chemical mix that makes glass appear invisible. This type of explanation does seem pretty normal by Detective Conan standards (from what I can remember from the manga), even if the crime is definitely different than Conan's usual fare (a lot of the crimes in Detective Conan are m*rders). However, PreCure is for a much different audience. I think the writers were well aware of this, as throughout Conan's whole explanation Mikuru is shown to be very confused by all the scientific jargon that's being used.

They do find the slipper, but this naturally leads to the thief of the day revealing themselves. The thief is disguised as the museum lady this time, and no surprise, it's Nijee again (he always does the flashy thefts). He grabs the slipper and tries to leave, as usual. Usually this is where the girls would step in and become Cures, but they can't really do that in a room full of people (plus Anna's still knocked out, lest we forget).

Here the Conan gang really gets to shine. First, Ran steps in and beats the crud out of Nijee with the martial arts skills I totally forgot she had.

Then when he uses his usual smoke bomb to escape, Conan goes after him and takes him down using his special belt and super sneakers (two gadgets I also forgot he had) to hit Nijee in the back with a super-powered soccer ball.

The smoke bomb thankfully woke Anna up, but she's still kinda groggy and very confused as to what is happening, so Mikuru has to literally drag her outside so they can face Nijee. Nijee turns the slipper into a Hanninda, which once again activates the special barrier hiding the battle, only it's Conan who gets locked out of the battle this time. Kinda surprised they didn't make an exception for him, but kudos to the Star Detective writers for staying firm on the "no civilians allowed" aspect of this.

After the girls win the battle, they return the slipper and see off the Conan gang. Jett and Mikuru are still all impressed by Anna's whole deduction thing, but she still has no idea what they're talking about. As Conan is leaving, the girls ask him who he really is, and he simply replies, "I'm Conan Edogawa. I'm a detective." I saw at least one person who was disappointed by this, but come on. This is a simple crossover, a one-off. It would've probably been too much for Conan to reveal his secret to them (plus Ran and Kōgoro were within earshot). Good fanfiction fodder though!

The episode also features a couple nods to Conan meta stuff, namely doing the title card and eye-catches in the Conan style (which involve zooming out of and into doors) and even showing a shadowy figure listening in, as the culprit often does in Detective Conan.

And...that's it for the Star Detective side! Now, on to the Conan side.

So much like the Star Detective side, the Conan side also involves a theft, or rather trying to prevent a theft. Basically, Conan and his group of kid friends (called the Detective Boys, despite it featuring two girls, Ayumi Yoshida and Ai Haibara) learn about a group of thieves who have been pulling off heists at a number of jewelry stores, and it seems that their next target is a glass sculpture called "The Pum-pum-pum-pum-pumpkin," which is on display at a local jewelry store.

Now it would seem the Detective Boys are familiar with the owner of said store, as they've dealt with heists there before (it sounds like several times). So they decide to stake out the place before the planned theft to look for clues, and end up doing this in shifts. Though, since the thief group in question has a reputation for being really bad at their jobs actually (almost like a reverse of the Phantom Thief Guild), I'm not sure why they were worried.

But I should back up. Where does PreCure come in here?

So the episode starts with the Detective Boys watching an anime episode at Dr. Agasa's house. The episode in question is basically Star Detective PreCure, but drawn in the Detective Conan art style (the difference is very slight, but you can tell the PreCure characters do look different). In fact, the episode actually has Nijee pretending to be the museum lady, so this could be a recreation of what Star Detective PreCure Episode 18 could've been like if the Conan gang weren't a part of it, which is kinda fun honestly. We also see Anna transform by herself, which she's never done before. Watching the clip again recently though, it does just seem like the typical Star Detective henshin clip, but with Mystique rather obviously edited out.

Also all the promotion for the Conan side of the collab only showed Answer, so I think it was always the plan she would be the only one to appear in this episode (well, along with Nijee, who I already knew thanks to MAL's cast list for the special was in this episode).

Anyway, Ayumi is apparently a huge fan of PreCure, and frequently pipes up that maybe PreCure will show up and/or save them throughout the episode. Conan is not impressed by this, even saying in the first scene, "If magic existed, we wouldn't need detectives." I guess this is the show doubling down on its limits regarding magic. In the scene where the whole group is walking together to the jewelry store, you can see both Conan and Ai react very differently to the news about the heists than the kids in the group. (Ai, btw, is the same as Conan - she was exposed to the same chemical working as some operative of the Syndicate and got turned from an adult to a child. As such, she and Conan tend to react to situations in a much more mature way).

Eventually, a couple of the kids manage to track down what seems to be the thieves' hideout, and the police are called. But this seemed too early for things to be solved, and I was right. The hideout being exposed was a planned distraction to distract the police from the real heist, which is being executed at the jewelry store. Basically the security guard the jewelry store owner hired was actually a plant by the thieves, and it's him, along with this girl earlier seen checking out the store, who do the actual theft.

But they do it...dressed as a very badly drawn Cure Answer and a pumpkin-themed Hanninda. It's all very weird, and Ayumi is particularly upset, saying "That's not PreCure!" and stuff.

But then just as if things couldn't get any stranger, the actual Cure Answer shows up, landing from the sky, to stop the theft. A sort of fight ensues. Eventually Cure Answer asks Conan to help her take out the Hanninda, and Conan begrudgingly agrees, but not before calling Answer "Kid."

So, yeah...it turns out this Cure Answer isn't the real one either, but infamous Detective Conan recurring character Kaito Kid in disguise. Kaito Kid (real name Kaito Kuroba) is the protagonist of the manga Magic Kaito, which is written by the same creator as Detective Conan, Gosho Aoyama, and is a famous phantom thief. Basically said manga started in the late '80s, before Gosho started Conan, but went on hiatus thanks to Gosho starting another series, Yaiba, and eventually Conan, and has continued intermittently to this day when Gosho takes/took breaks from those series. Kaito Kid makes occasional appearances in the Conan series but iirc is never technically antagonistic toward Conan. (The Detective Conan World wiki pointed out that this crossover episode is the first time Kaito has had a major appearance in an anime-original story, since apparently there are limits on when certain characters can appear in this way??)

Anyway, the two take the fake Hanninda down using an attack clearly inspired by Answer and Mystique's original finisher. Except "Answer" has a gun (which apparently reminded some people of the "Hand Pointing a Gun" meme) and Conan uses essentially the same soccer ball attack he used on Nijee.

Ayumi is overjoyed to see the PreCure she admires, and Kaito plays along with the idea (Conan doesn't correct him either) before flying off.

After the end credits, there's also a fun bonus scene of Kaito watching a Cure Answer clip and imitating it, clearly as research 😂

Also we do actually get a brief cameo by the actual Anna when she asks Conan and Ai for directions while they're on patrol.

So, yeah, the Detective Conan side featured PreCure in a very different way, but it ended up still being enjoyable for me. I also was able to understand it just fine despite not having watched the Detective Conan anime before this.

Thank you very much if you read this post to the end...I know it was very long this time! Till next time!

[PreCure pics from PreCure Wiki; Detective Conan pics from Detective Conan World wiki. Info about Magic Kaito manga from here]