Starry Dreamer

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.

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!

So realized the weekend's coming up so gotta get my thoughts up on last week's ep.

Honestly, I think I (and a lot of PreCure fans) were expecting some big lore drops about either Mikuru's mom or Anna's mom in this episode, given the "Memories With Mother" title. But...we didn't get that.

That being said, this felt like less of a filler episode than last week's with Eliza. It was more of a character arc progression episode, where Anna is troubled cause she misses her mom (which is honestly totally valid for her to feel) and Mikuru, noticing Anna being troubled, tries to step things up and become someone Anna can really rely on. It's a progression of them as characters as well as their friendship.

I actually like this cause it goes back to a concept that was present in both Futari wa and Mahoutsukai - two girls who are thrown into being heroes together who otherwise would probably have never crossed paths. In Meitantei's case, it's a bit more like Mahoutsukai since Anna is a Temporal Fish Out of Water (like how Mirai was new to magic) and Mikuru is knowledgeable about detective stuff (similar to how Liko was really book smart about magic) but is a newbie at the practical side of things (Liko was notoriously bad at practical magic, like thawing the oranges, though she tried to hide it).

Anyway, the episode starts with Anna and Mikuru trying to help a girl find her stuffed bunny. I feel like episodes that start with them on a case tend to be character-progression or lore episodes, while episodes where them taking the case IS the plot are more "case of the week" type episodes (although episode 11 kinda subverts this with having Cure Arcana Shadow properly introduce herself to the others).

They find the bunny and reunite the girl with her mom. After this, Anna is sad, as she's reminded of her own mom, who she can't see even if she wanted to. (I mean, unless the theory about Mikuru being her mom ends up being true, but I think if they wanted to hint at that, this would've been the episode to really show it, and they didn't).

Back at the agency, Anna is still troubled, but refuses to talk about it. Which makes sense, since episode 5 showed that she tends to keep her emotions bottled up rather than talking through them.

Jett then suddenly realizes he's out of candy, despite thinking he'd stocked up (though to be fair, he only checks his desk drawer, and we saw earlier that he had a stash in the ceiling or something, unless he went through that already - though it might also have been moved when the girls fixed up the agency or when they set up the Pretty Holic store) and panics. Anna volunteers to go buy him some (an obvious excuse to get some alone time). His face when she offers this is so adorable 😍

Anna goes out and in the process runs into Howa Kurea, the patissière we met in Episode 2 and the focus Éclair candidate of the week. Kurea also happens to be out shopping. After hearing Anna is shopping for sweets, she invites her back to her bakery.

At the bakery we meet the main chef and see some of the cakes they offer. As someone familiar with cake decorating, I found them quite impressive. They also show Anna a sort of portfolio of cakes Kurea has made recently. A soccer cake, a rounded dress cake, some animal cakes. The animal cakes look like they wouldn't be out of place in Kira Kira PreCure honestly. Kurea talks about how she does her best to take her customers' emotions and wishes into account while still being creative with it, and when we see a montage of what inspired the different cakes, it's clear she has excellent intuition (and creativity).

Kurea then suggests that she make a cake for Anna, though Anna stammers that it's not her birthday (as episode 1 revealed, her birthday is in January). Kurea says that's ok and they go out to the patio. Here we learn that Kurea's cake ordering process basically involves having someone close their eyes and envision the cake they want in response to questions she asks. This is shown as some visual of Anna's memories (all taken from episode 1). What this is supposed to mean is unclear. If Kurea somehow IS Éclair (or maybe her fairy, since it's possible for fairies to take human form, like Jett does), maybe this is a power she somehow has. Considering Arcana Shadow's ties to mysteries, labyrinths, and darkness, as well as her fairy being a fortune-teller, maybe Éclair's powers involve clarity, light, emotion, and some connection to the past. It would fit with the word Éclair meaning "lightning" or the idea of a "bolt of brilliance."

After this, Kurea invites Anna to help make the cake, saying they have more than enough ingredients available, since the chef recently held a cooking class. The chalkboard that shows this is very cute IMO.

Of course, we can't forget Mikuru. Mikuru, getting no help from Jett (who just tells her that Anna might be troubled but doesn't want to talk about it), decides she needs to become someone Anna can rely on. She decides to do physical training to achieve this. This part made me laugh, because she fails even at basic sit-ups and push-ups, which I have also never been good at (and we always had to practice them for the annual Presidential Fitness Test). Pochitan tries to help by doing things like holding her feet for her as she does sit-ups (which we also did in P.E.) but then decides to play horsey on Mikuru's back while she's trying to do push-ups, which while cute is obviously not very helpful 😆

We also get a brief scene at the Villain Theater. Initially we only see Luluka there, but then who should show up but...GOEMON.

This guy hasn't appeared since episode 11 (he might've been in wide shots of the theater but wasn't distinguishable) so it was about time he showed up again. He offers his "apprentice" an ice cream bribe again to get her to tag along, which works because obviously. Later, though, he gets mad when Luluka is just sitting around eating ice cream instead of actively looking for the Makoto Crystal, which is pretty funny.

Luluka is, as usual, totally unbothered, and is content to wait for the Crystal to come to them (I don't know if she just assumed it will, or if Mashutan did a fortune-telling thing off screen).

Anna uses the Pre-Kit Gloss to manifest a patissière outfit (since they don't have any extras) and she and Kurea get to work. Anna only helps with the actual prep and baking part, with Kurea taking over for the decorating.

And...somehow she manages to make the EXACT SAME cake Anna's mom bought her in 2027?!

Yeah, not sure how she did that. Like, yes, it's a pretty standard type of decoration (white icing with dollops and strawberries) but still...how?!

Anna's time at the bakery gets interrupted by Mikuru calling her to come fight, and Kurea lets her go without any problem. Does she know what's going on? Maybe.

So the Hanninda ends up being the bunny toy from the opening case (can't remember if this is the first time something from an opening case ended up being relevant later like this without the owner being an active client). Oh, also Anna and Mikuru have another bonding moment before the battle where Mikuru reassures Anna she'll try harder to be someone Anna can rely on.

Despite Luluka tagging along, she barely contributes to the battle, only appearing transformed for like 5 minutes max, and only to pay Goemon back for the ice cream. She does try to pin down Cure Answer with a giant carrot though.

Eventually everyone goes back to the bakery to get the cake, which Kurea has further embellished with little marzipan decorations of Anna, Mikuru, Jett, and Pochitan.

She must be a very good decorator to make stuff of that much detail out of marzipan sheesh. Plus she added that stuff on the side too.

Mikuru has to once again cover for Pochitan talking, and Kurea goes along with Pochitan being a pouch a little too easily IMO. 😅 The episode ends with everyone digging into the cake happily.

Overall, I did like this episode, though we didn't get the lore drops everyone expected. As someone who works in a grocery store bakery and enjoys watching videos of cake decorating, I really liked the parts with Kurea. After this, she's definitely my frontrunner for being Éclair (the dessert connection notwithstanding).

Episode 18 I'm really excited about though, because of this:

Yep, the Detective PreCures are collabing with Detective Conan! I mean, it kind of makes sense - they're both shows about kid detectives and Detective Conan has been around since 1994 so the timing lines up with Star Detective's 1999 setting. (Heck, both shows even have "Meitantei" in their titles!) It would've been weird if it didn't happen TBH. It also explains the videos the official PreCure YouTube channel kept putting up showing Conan and one of the Meitantei Cures in some sort of museum, always just missing each other.

(Conan is also no stranger to phantom thieves, as the phantom thief Kaito Kid, the protagonist of Gosho Aoyama's series Magic Kaito, frequently makes appearances in Detective Conan).

Toei released a trailer teasing both sides of the collab:

Based on this, it seems that the two characters must exist in the same universe, since Conan's friends know about the PreCures and Mikuru is shown looking starstruck over Conan. That could just be a retcon for this collab I guess though. (This is a bit of a homecoming for Conan's seiyuu, though, as she also voiced Dark PreCure in HeartCatch. This led to some joking on the r/PreCure subreddit). Unlike the Episode 18 preview, which only showed the PreCure side of the collab, this trailer shows both - Conan and co visiting Makoto Mirai Town in Star Detective PreCure this week, and Cure Answer visiting Detective Conan on June 6th. (Not sure how only Cure Answer could go there when she and Mikuru need to transform together, but maybe she gets transported there after having already transformed, since she's only shown in her Cure form in the Conan side of the preview).

We know from the PreCure side that Conan will be accompanied by Ran/Rachel and her dad, as is common during investigations in Detective Conan. This stung for me a bit when I first found it out, because it was recently made public that Ran's original seiyuu died last month. Most likely this episode will feature her new seiyuu instead.

This preview also seems to confirm that, at least on the PreCure side, Anna will be the one tranquilized for Conan's usual "mystery solving" speech, rather than Mr. Moore as usual. (I know he will give it, because Conan is shown speaking into his bow tie in the same shot as Anna is shown unconscious, and that's where his voice changer gadget is).

It also seems that the weird museum owner from episode 11 is back in this episode. Guess she didn't lose her job after being exposed for intent to commit fraud (by displaying fake artifacts). Looks like the Phantom Thieves are going to ruin her day once again though.

Anyways, very excited to see how this collab plays out, as I am a fan of both franchises (for Conan, I've only read the manga, and only about 40 volumes of the 100+ that exist, but still). I may even watch both halves, since Crunchyroll has Detective Conan as well.

Also, Conan's catchphrase is "There is always only one truth!" which I'm sure the lie-hating Anna would definitely appreciate.

So cutting it a bit close on this one again... could've done it on either of my days off honestly but was kind of too tired to do anything.

Anyway, this episode was a focus on Eliza (or whatever her name is), the mystery writer who was the client in episode 2. She's also a potential Éclair candidate. Honestly, seeing the title was "Detective Ellie's Case Book," I thought the "Ellie" in question was Eliza herself, but apparently Ellie is actually the name of the main character of her novels (though given the name similarity, the possibility of Ellie being a self-insert type character is probably pretty likely 😅).

Anyway, the girls are chilling in the agency with Pochitan as the episode starts, and Mikuru is reading what looks like a manga or novel (probably not a light novel since I don't think those existed in 1999...the book looks typical tankoubon size at any rate). It turns out this is one of Eliza's books, the "Detective Ellie's Case Files" of the title. Mikuru finishes it and comments on how great it is and how great a writer Eliza is. And then literal moments later, Eliza herself stumbles in, asking them to hire her as a detective.

After the opening credits, we learn that Eliza's looking for ideas for her newest book, a sequel to the Ellie book Mikuru was reading, and thinks moonlighting as a Star Detective will help inspire her. Now if this was any other PreCure series, where the Cures only use their powers to fight monsters and are otherwise totally normal girls, this premise would not work. However, Anna and Mikuru are also detectives as civilians, so it works.

They also get a client right away - a kid Jett found while out on a walk who lost his cat Miko. (I think this might be the first client Jett actually found). A pretty simple case, sure, but TBH this is a show for kids. Eliza gets super into it, donning cat ears and a cat tail so she can "think like a cat." Not really sure if that would actually work, but to her credit she does look cute.

Over at the Villain Theater, Usonoir detects another Makoto Jewel. This time Ageseine begs for a chance, but to everyone's surprise he asks Arcana Shadow to go. I don't know what he thinks she can do, since unlike the other thieves she can't create Hannindas, but she did manage to almost pull a heist off by herself in episode 11, so I guess he assumes she can handle it. Either that or he's suddenly keeping an eye on her more now that the Star Detectives know about her. (He might also be getting frustrated with the other thieves, to be fair). Luluka is as surprised as anyone, but agrees to go, cause like, she can't really say no after all (even if, as she said before, no one controls her moves but her, defying Usonoir would probably derail whatever her grand plan is).

For being even more of an amateur detective than our protagonists, Eliza still manages pretty well during the investigation. She's not perfect by any means, and overall she does seem kinda ditzy at times. She doesn't try to steal the spotlight or make things all about her or anything though. Which is nice honestly.

The girls don't have much luck at first. They do stumble across a cat who resembles Miko, but the cat's fur is too short, so they assume it can't be the cat they're looking for. (This becomes important later). Meanwhile, Jett babysits Miko's owner and helps him make and pass out lost cat flyers, which is pretty nice of him. (I get the feeling that Jett is one of those characters who acts tough but is actually really kind).

Anna and Mikuru suddenly remember they can talk to cats now (thanks to the Pre-Kit Gummies) so they decide to ask the nearby cats if they saw Miko. Honestly, I don't know why they didn't think of this sooner, but to be fair they had Eliza with them, so they probably couldn't talk about them openly. We even get to see a glimpse of their conversation with this one cat from Eliza's perspective, which just sounds like the girls are meowing the whole time. Surprisingly, this doesn't faze her at all, and she admires the girls for committing so hard to the bit of "thinking like a cat." 😆 I don't know if this was just intended to make Eliza seem like a ditz, but I do appreciate that we at least got to see an outsider's POV of what using the Pre-Kit Gummies is like.

Unfortunately, talking to the cats doesn't end up helping, so the girls go back to Jett and Miko's owner to see if they can find more clues. The boy says Miko ran away that afternoon, after his mom came home from the salon. They ask if she had changed her appearance somehow, but he says no. The camera pans to a nearby pet grooming salon, and finally the girls put two and two together - the mom took MIKO to the salon, where she was groomed. They realize this also means that the cat with short hair that looked like Miko actually was Miko all along, just with shorter hair than their reference photo due to having been groomed.

So they head back to where they were searching before and find Miko - in the arms of Luluka. Obviously the girls are immediately suspicious. Luluka is also disappointed, cause she wanted to keep petting the cats in the area. Luluka also mentions that she is there because apparently Miko's collar has a Makoto Jewel in it, though she hasn't found it yet. Jett gets Eliza and Miko's owner to safety, and a fight ensues.

Per usual, the girls and Arcana Shadow trade some blows. Then Ageseine shows up, revealing she has the collar (despite being rejected for the job, she had headed out into town anyway, where she at one point gets scared by some alley cats). Arcana Shadow decides to leave at this point, leaving the battle in Ageseine's hands (since she hadn't wanted to come in the first place anyway). Ageseine has no problem with this, I guess, since she just turns the collar into a Hanninda per usual. (Arcana Shadow I think just bails after this). Hilariously, the Hanninda actually calls itself a Hanninyan instead, as a cat pun (nyan being Japanese onomatopoeia for a meow). The girls actually struggle against it a bit, but then Mystique pulls out her own new finisher. I expected hers to be different from Answer's entirely, but nope, she has a sword too. The main difference is that hers is more like a fencing sword. I also saw people say her attack is more of a thrust while Answer's is a slashing attack.

Not sure when the last time was that we saw a magical girl using a fencing sword. Probably Umi in Magic Knight Rayearth honestly.

Anyway, they win the battle, get the Jewel, give the collar back to the kid, and go home.

Eliza decides she's had enough detective shadowing and tells the girls how much she admires them, and they part ways.

The next time we see the girls, they're apparently reading Eliza's new book already?? Wasn't she still writing it?? Idk. Anyway they comment again on how cool Eliza is and wonder what it would be like if Eliza based characters on them in her next book. (It would be cool if they did actually do this somehow, kind of like how Haruka/Cure Flora's roommate - and the girls' Secret Keeper of sorts - Yui wrote a picture book about the Princess PreCures after the events of Go! Princess PreCure).

Unlike the Rei focus episode this was more like an actual filler episode. Mystique's new attack is honestly the only thing that keeps it from being total filler, and even that comes out of nowhere honestly. Episode 17 was revealed (via the Next Episode Preview) to be focused on Kurea, the pastry chef Éclair candidate, so we'll see if that episode ends up being more filler too or not.

They really are being SO secretive about Éclair. Why are they doing this?? We're almost to mid-season territory; they've got to give us something! I think Éclair's toys are supposed to come out in June or July iirc. She would definitely need to have debuted before the Star Detective PreCure movie comes out in September (though hopefully not too close to it, so they don't have to shoehorn her in like they did with Cure Majesty in All Stars F). She's also featured in the art and trailer for some PreCure event (or exhibit or something) happening at Sunshine City in Tokyo starting July 31st, so I think she will debut by then at least.

I don't have much to say about this episode. It was cute but mostly just fine to me. I guess after the Rei episode I expected there to be something of major plot relevance here, but there was not. Which is fine, of course.

Actually doing this right after the episode aired for once!

So as I said, this episode was called "The Secret of Moria Luluka," but ironically we don't get much in the way of big lore drops like you would expect. I guess they're saving that for when Luluka properly joins the team.

Anyway, the episode is still mostly about the girls and Jett reading the Important Letter from London™ and investigating based on it, though.

What we learn from the letter is:

Cure Arcana Shadow's true identity is a girl named Moria Luluka, born November 1, 1983.

Before working in Makoto Mirai Town, she was a genius detective who solved many difficult cases for the London branch.

Luluka was in London two years prior (which was when the photo of her included with the Important Letter was taken).

She disappeared when the Makoto Jewel was shattered.

The shattering happened at a lake near Makoto Mirai Town.

In other words, not a lot really. Now, as the villains implied in Episode 13, this could be the London office holding out on them, or it could be just that they just sent the bare minimum of info per some standard procedure. (When closeups of the letter are shown, most of the text is unreadable, plus there are darker spots that kind of make me think of how they redact things in sensitive documents...so honestly you could go either way on this).

Also I kind of love that Luluka is a fellow Scorpio. That makes me feel closer to her somehow 😄 It also fits her personality, as Scorpio is a sign of intensity and "still waters run deep." It's also a fixed sign, representing strong will and a resistance to change, which fits well with her too. (As a bonus, her Chinese zodiac sign is the Pig, and her element is water again as well).

The photo that accompanies the letter was, as I said, taken in London two years prior.

That this is the most recent photo the London branch has of her suggests that she maybe got reassigned to the Makoto Mirai office around that time. It's also, interestingly, a casual photo of her in a garden, rather than an official ID photo or anything. Not sure what that means, maybe nothing. She's also surrounded by lilies, a flower that has previously been associated with her. White lilies in hanakotoba (Japanese flower language) mean purity, chastity, and innocence, much like what we associate them with in the West. A younger, happier Luluka being surrounded by them in the photo is probably a visual cue that she was pure and innocent once upon a time, even if she isn't so now.

(Also this is the first time we've seen Luluka in a color other than black. It's been widely speculated that Arcana Shadow's Cure outfit might change from black to white when she's "redeemed" and properly joins the team, and here we finally get to see her in white. Some people are annoyed by this, though, saying black goes better with her light-colored hair in terms of contrast, and are hoping that her Cure outfit doesn't change color).

Later on in the episode, we learn that the Makoto Jewel shattering only took place six months ago, and if that's when Luluka joined the thieves then she really IS a newbie. She seems pretty integrated for the most part, though. But then, she is a genius, so she probably learned quickly.

Jett also mentions that the London office investigated the area where the shattering took place pretty thoroughly already (we see a flashback of a bunch of fairies investigating with magnifying glasses...it's kinda cute actually). So clearly they thought there was something to find there, I guess.

In the recent Luluka-focused episodes, the Hanninda battles have largely been secondary, with the girls fighting Arcana Shadow more than the Hannindas, but this episode it was particularly obvious that they just stuck one in to fulfill some kind of quota or something. The girls are full into investigating the bridge where the shattering took place when Pochitan randomly senses a Makoto Jewel and once again manifests a bag strap and yanks Anna away by force at top speed to go find it (we haven't seen this gag in a while, so I'd forgotten she could even do that TBH). Though as it turns out, speed was actually helpful as they were able to catch the thief almost red-handed in this case. Which was probably useful cause the Villain of the Day was Ageseine, who we know is more likely to steal and dash anyway. (Nijee once again asked to be sent but got denied). That it was Ageseine does actually end up being relevant to some reveals at the end of the episode, though, which is probably why the writers picked her for the thief in this episode.

The person being stolen from ended up being Utsumi, the photographer from way back in episode 1. He got so distracted trying to take a picture of a butterfly that he ran off, leaving his main camera on top of his bag while taking the picture with his spare one. In fact, this was how the girls deduced that the original Utsumi they met was a fake, because Mikuru noticed the person kept fiddling with the bag flap, like they were trying to stuff something inside, which was proof that they didn't know how to store the camera properly, like an actual photographer would. Seriously, Ageseine, rookie mistake 🙄 (She also says "I saw someone running that way," pointing toward the lake, which would make no sense really, and the girls quickly point out if someone had run that way, they would've seen them since they just came from the lake).

Ageseine also just used costuming to do her disguise this time, more like Nijee does, as opposed to makeup which seems to be her usual M.O. Maybe it's because she had to do it in a hurry (in the later flashback we see her in her normal form right behind Utsumi as he's rushing off to take the photo).

Anyway, the girls manage to blast the Hanninda away temporarily, and Ageseine runs after it. The girls take a moment to breathe, but then Luluka shows up. She had shown up earlier, when they had just started investigating, but left rather quickly (complete with a Random Dramatic Wind to cover her disappearance), but this time she seems ready for a fight. (She also asks them if they found anything in their investigating, and deduces they did when they don't answer, another example of her excellent deductive skills). She transforms, and they go at it. Mystique is able to block Arcana Star Rain with her shield, and Answer is able to dodge its projectiles at one point, showing that that attack isn't as much of an issue for them anymore, and Arcana Shadow does seem somewhat impressed by this. Answer blocks Arcana Shadow's rod at one point, telling her that she wants to help her, since she could tell from the photo that Luluka was happy once, and that helping people is what detectives do. Luluka refuses the offer, though, saying that detectives don't help people--they take requests, and she didn't request help from them.

We then get one of the few big lore drops in the episode - Arcana Shadow reveals that she chose to join the Phantom Thieves, that she's not "enveloped in Usonoir's lies" (which I guess kills the brainwashing theory). She, of course, does not tell us why she did so (because Luluka never elaborates on stuff), only that no one controls her moves but her. Shortly after this, she decides to just end the battle and go get ice cream, but not without warning Answer and Mystique that some cases can't be solved by sleuthing alone.

(Oh also Ageseine and the Hanninda do end up returning during all this too, and Answer and Mystique are forced to focus on defeating the Hanninda and getting the Makoto Jewel back, despite wanting to find out more from Arcana Shadow).

After the battle, we see Luluka and Mashutan in what I'm assuming is the lobby area of the Villain Theater, which I have to say looks absolutely gorgeous. (We had seen a bit of the stairwell in an earlier episode, but we see much more here).

Mashutan chides Luluka for how she acted toward the girls, but Luluka says it'll be a while before Anna and Mikuru can solve "that mystery" (basically that they don't have enough power yet, or something) and that she's going to give up trying to pursue the letter. We then see a flashback of Usonoir's attack on the Makoto Jewel Crystal. It's similar to what we saw before (and even earlier in this episode) except that now we see that Luluka witnessed it, and by the way she looks, it seems that maybe she tried to stop Usonoir but wasn't able to, and is now being forced to helplessly watch him possibly win. However, a wind suddenly blows through, and some blue figure appears to stop Usonoir, who Luluka seems shocked to see. This figure is probably Éclair, given that, much like the original flashback, we see the reflection of a blue butterfly in someone's eyes, though it's in Luluka's eyes this time. So this naturally opens up a wave of speculation. What was Luluka doing there? Did she try to stop Usonoir alone? Why weren't she and Éclair fighting together (if they were partners as most fans suspect)? Did whatever happened that night have something to do with why Luluka joined the Thieves? So many more questions.

The butterfly motif doesn't just appear there, though. While investigating the bridge with the Loupes, Anna finds a strange little square of what she thinks is paper.

Now I suspected this was a photo from the start, since it looks a lot like the photos that come out of my Instax mini. But it's only confirmed to be so at the end of the episode, when the girls show it to Utsumi. Which makes sense, cause as a photographer he would recognize a photo when he sees it. He says it's from a "new type of camera" that prints out pictures as soon as you take them. I didn't know these types of cameras were new in 1999, especially considering Polaroids go back to I think the 1970s at least. Maybe they were just new to Japan? I guess this could be a smaller model, considering how small the photo itself is (ones from Polaroids are bigger, since the cameras themselves are bigger). We learn in Luluka's flashback at the end that Ageseine was actually the one who took the photo, since she wanted to capture Usonoir capturing the Crystal, for some reason. (This actually fits well with her comment upon defeat, saying she could've gotten a picture of the Cures losing if she'd had her "new camera." At one point, Ageseine also says "I'll take a picture of you losing and print you a copy" as a sort of taunt, and NGL that was a throwback for me, cause I remember well how, when developing photos physically was the norm, you needed to make copies of photos if you wanted multiples).

Anyway, the photo is really faded (not sure why if it was only taken 6 months ago - my Instax mini photos definitely last longer than that - but then it was exposed to the elements that whole time, presumably while the picture was still developing as well, so that might explain it. Also per the flashback it was taken at night - cameras back then didn't have the "low light" advances modern cameras have - and probably wasn't focused, being taken from as far away as she was...though to be fair I can rarely take non-blurry pictures on my Instax mini either 😅). But nothing the magic of the Loupes can't solve! (Honestly, I swear they added that function for plot convenience, cause it's never been brought up till now). The girls use the Loupe to focus on the picture, and a picture of a blue butterfly is revealed. It's really close up and pretty indistinct, but still, a clue I guess!

This episode also had some funny moments. In the one typical Villain Theater scene, Nijee's on stage, apologizing for his blunder in retrieving the letter and offering to make up for it, and he eventually tries to shift the blame to Arcana Shadow. Usonoir then asks where Arcana Shadow is, which I found interesting as they never seemed to notice she was gone before when she was (I guess everyone needs to be present for team meetings but are otherwise free to go wherever). Nijee scoffs that she's probably off hiding in shame, but then a voice says "I'm right here, I've been here the whole time," and the camera pans up to Luluka's box, where we see...Mashutan, dressed as Arcana Shadow.

The funny thing is that Mashutan actually thought she could sub for Arcana Shadow and no one would notice. Even Nijee points out that she isn't fooling anyone. 😆 Thankfully, Luluka does actually return right around then, and is able to justify her absence by saying she was looking for info on the letter, which we know is actually true. She also compliments Mashutan, saying she looks cute, which I guess suggests Luluka didn't know Mashutan had dressed up as her actually. Right after this, Mashutan does her fortune-telling and reveals the Important Letter will help the detectives find another secret (likely the photo).

We also see both Mashutan and Pochitan in mascot outfits during the battle trying to cheer on their teams.

Pochitan can apparently just manifest hers out of thin air. Also Pochitan does hers in response to Mashutan cheering for Arcana Shadow, almost out of competitiveness, which makes it funnier. (Mashutan's cheering doesn't seem as effective or enthusiastic though, likely because she has a calmer voice overall, and also because compared to Mystique, who Pochitan was cheering for, Arcana Shadow is a mouthful of a name 😂).

I'm pretty sure that both these scenes are not-so-subtle advertisements for the costume set that came out along with the Mashutan Talking Plush toy a few weeks ago, which features costumes for both Pochitan and Mashutan. 👇🏻

At the very end, when the girls are using the Loupes on the photo, they also are able to spot ice cream on Jett's face and call him out for it. He says he got a craving after hearing Arcana Shadow mention it. It would be funny to see if Luluka and Jett bond over a shared love of sweets when Luluka ends up joining the team haha.

Anyway, like I said, not actually as many reveals as we thought, but still, progress. Next week's episode is one focusing on Eliza the writer, the client from episode 2 and another possible Éclair candidate. Wonder if that'll be as plot relevant as episode 14??

[Anna with photo and Pochitan and Mashutan in costumes pics from @nijigasakilove; Mashutan at theater in costume pic from @kirayabaultrahappy; Luluka in garden pic from @thebluestrokes; Pochitan and Mashutan merch pic from Tokullectibles]

So I realized that a new episode of Star Detective is dropping soon so I figured I should make this post about last week's ep to stay caught up.

So this episode was kind of deceptive. It's called "Pochitan's First Outing" and the preview makes you think it's going to be a cute little filler episode to balance out the intense episode 13. Even I thought that's what it was going to be. Like, they would have been totally justified in doing that IMO, and it's not like PreCure hasn't done it before.

However, while not deceptively dark like, say, the night pool episode of Hugtto PreCure (which could've been a happy filler episode if Hana wasn't so traumatized by recent reveals), this episode did actually end up being plot relevant. Who'd have thought?

So the episode mostly focuses on Kameda Rei, the student council president at Anna and Mikuru's school, and another Éclair candidate. She's the typical "so dedicated she's scary" student council member we often see in anime. But as one would expect, she's actually a really nice, kind person underneath, except no one has really gotten to know her because they're so scared of her. While this does play to a classic trope, I relate to this, since according to some online quiz I took a while ago, I'm a kuudere, which is basically what this trope is as well.

Anyway, she notices Pochitan hanging from Anna's bag and asks if she has permission to bring said thing to school. (IRL Japanese schools are rather strict about this I think so this makes sense). Aside from having to cover for Pochitan accidentally talking again (a constant issue with more baby-like mascots in PreCure especially 😆), the girls have to admit that they don't. They get off with a warning the first time, but obviously don't want to get in trouble again, so the next day they leave Pochitan at the agency instead.

Unfortunately Pochitan is none too happy to be left at home. So, when later on, a strange goat shows up with the Important Letter from London™ (the one with the intel on Arcana Shadow that Jett requested), and Jett mentions that he's going to wait till Anna and Mikuru get back to open it, Pochitan decides to take matters into her own hands and deliver it herself. She sucks it into her head jewel pocket dimension and flies off while Jett is distracted.

(Also not sure why Curetto Detective Agency uses a talking goat for their inter-agency mail delivery but ok. 😆 I saw someone say the goat wouldn't be out of place in Wonderful PreCure, and honestly they're so right haha)

At some point, though, Jett realizes Pochitan is missing and calls the girls on the Pre-Kit Memo to let them know. (Probably a good move, since they know the enemies are interested in Pochitan's power).

Oh, speaking of the thieves, they apparently have their own animal message system, cause shortly after the Goat Mail Delivery scene, we see a message arriving at the Villain Theater, carried by a mysterious owl (I guess Owl Post exists in this universe 😅). Nijee catches the message and reveals that the Cures received a letter from London. Since we know from last episode that the thieves are well aware of the Curetto Detective Agency base in London, they all basically know where the letter came from. (Plus, if the thieves - other than Luluka - are fairies as Jett previously stated, they may have once worked for the agency anyway).

None of the thieves, besides Nijee, seem all too interested in this new info - well, except Luluka, who seems uneasy about the reveal. Mushutan does her prophecy thing and reveals that the letter contains something Luluka does not want revealed, which based on her reaction seems to be what Luluka figured it was anyway. Nijee, meanwhile, decides he's going to intercept the letter. Because of course he does. (He honestly was the perfect thief for this episode, because he is the kind of person to do reckless stuff like that). Luluka obviously also decides to retrieve the letter, though on her own (I doubt she'd want to pair up with Nijee anyway).

We go back to Rei, who is reading in the library but gets distracted by some kids loudly playing nearby. She goes over to them and reminds them libraries are quiet places. They say that's boring, so she decides to read them a picture book. While she's doing so, Pochitan, who is flying nearby (after getting a little lost trying to find the girls' school, to her distress), overhears Rei reading through an open window and flies closer to see what's going on (and probably learn some new words - earlier, when the girls are on their way to school, Pochitan very cutely points out the sounds various things make, which seems very much like a baby trying to learn new words 😄).

Rei eventually gets to the end of the picture book, which the kids say they liked. The kids' mom arrives to retrieve them, and Rei goes back to her own reading, only to find Pochitan there. She has a bit of a freakout (for obvious reasons) but gradually warms to Pochitan (cause how could you not).

The girls track Pochitan's footprints to the library using the Loupes, though they notice they stop at the bushes near the windows. Mikuru points out that Pochitan can fly (not sure how they forgot that). They eventually see Pochitan with Rei, and end up talking to her. Rei kindly offers to help them gain permission to bring Pochitan to school, on the grounds that she's a member of their detective agency (which I guess is kinda true). They're surprised she would help them, and Rei says that the clover-like badge she wears is one that has been passed down from one student council president to another, and that when she put it on, she took on the responsibility of helping fellow students that came with it, and that she takes that seriously.

Then the girls remember why they came there in the first place, and Anna asks Pochitan why she left the agency. Pochitan reveals that she brought the girls a letter (not adding context, obviously, due to her limited vocabulary). Unfortunately, around this time, both Nijee and Luluka show up to try to get the letter. Rei's badge also manifests a Makoto Jewel - out of her feelings of commitment and loyalty, probably - which Nijee turns into a Hanninda.

Unfortunately, thanks to the special villain barrier that blocks battles from the outside world, everyone but Rei suddenly disappears. We actually see this from her POV too, so now we at least know what it looks like to outsiders when people disappear behind this barrier. Luluka transformed before the barrier went up I think though, so I guess Rei saw that?? (I saw someone say she noticeably reacts when Nijee says the name "Arcana Shadow" too, which, if she IS Éclair, either solely or a part of her - since the popular theory now is that Éclair got split up between the four candidates somehow - is significant).

Anyway, the battle is pretty typical, although since Nijee and Arcana Shadow are not working together in this, Answer and Mystique are stuck mostly fighting Arcana Shadow and ignoring the Hanninda entirely, much to Nijee's annoyance. He literally has to call their attention to him by being like "Uh, hello! We're here too, remember?" 😆

They beat the Hanninda, get the Makoto Jewel, and everyone reappears. I imagine Rei is pretty confused at this point. 😅 The girls even attempt to awkwardly explain what happened, but Rei stops them, saying "Detectives must have their secrets" and leaves it at that. They give Rei her badge back too, of course. Rei also says they can just call her "Rei," which if you know anything about Japanese honorifics is kind of a big deal.

Unfortunately, while everyone's distracted, Mushutan grabs the letter from Pochitan (how she held on to it the whole battle I don't know). So when Jett calls for an update, the girls have to admit they lost it.

However, once Luluka goes to open it in a nearby alley, we learn that...Pochitan actually grabbed the wrong letter. She grabbed a random invoice for Jett's candy delivery. (And there seem to be several envelopes matching that one on his desk...why does he have so many?? Is he saving them to claim them as a business expense or something?). Nijee's look of surprise and disappointment when Luluka shows him the invoice says it all.

Back at the agency, Jett explains the situation to the girls and reveals the real letter, but naturally the episode ends before we get to see what it says. Boo!

Oh I forgot to mention that Cure Answer got a new solo finisher in this episode. It's the one pictured in the first pic at the top of the post. It's called PreCure Answer Hanamaru Sword and looks freaking awesome. I also didn't realize till watching the official clip of the attack from the Toei Animation YouTube that the Mirror Loupe acts as the hilt for the sword in the attack, which is really cool.

Mystique is supposed to have a solo finisher too, per the audio in the Mirror Loupe toy, supposedly called Mystique Strike. Not sure when we're going to see that though.

Episode 15 is called "The Secret of Moria Luluka" (a nice matchup with episode 12, "The Secret of Arcana Shadow") and is supposed to reveal what the Important Letter from London™ said. Will probably be watching it tonight so will let you know my thoughts!

Whoo boy is this quite an interesting batch of episodes.

So as mentioned in the last post, at the end of episode 10 Luluka decides to start being serious, and she doesn't waste any time, putting things into motion immediately in episode 11. I remember when I read the released synopsis for this episode (taken from the official website I think) before it aired I was like "This is basically a typical kaitou anime episode" 😆 And I would know, cause I've watched about half of Cat's Eye (would've watched more but it got taken off Crunchyroll before I could finish...there's a remake that came out this year too which I haven't gotten to yet) and all of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne (which, like Star Detective, is also set in 1999). Plus I've read a good chunk of the Detective Conan manga, which features frequent cameos by Gosho Aoyama's famous kaitou character, Kaitou Kid from Magic Kaito 1412, and I also read CLAMP's two-volume kaitou series, Man of Many Faces, as well as CLAMP School Detectives, which 20 Faces, the thief character of Man of Many Faces, also appears in. So yeah, I know some stuff 😅

Anyway, Luluka goes for the whole shebang of targeting a notable artifact at a museum - a necklace called the Starlight Princess - and sending a calling card and everything. She then stakes the place out as Luluka during the day and later uses the Pre-Kit Gloss (which she happens to have one of) to disguise herself as a security guard to get in that night and execute the actual heist by causing a temporary blackout, and then escaping via the roof in classic kaitou fashion. (Towards the end, we learn that had Luluka succeeded, she would've used the Pre-Kit Gloss again to blend in with the crowd and truly get away undetected. Clearly she thought this plan through quite thoroughly). The blackout part actually almost fails when she does execute it, though, because Mushutan is the one who's actually supposed to kill the lights, but she almost gets caught trying to do so and barely manages to do it in time. 😆

Anna and Mikuru find out about the calling card being sent via the local news and go to investigate, since the card said it was from the Phantom Thieves Guild. In typical kaitou anime fashion, the lady running the museum doesn't think she needs detectives and assumes her private security team will be more than sufficient. The fact that Anna and Mikuru are also kids and employees of a relatively unknown detective agency doesn't lend them much klout in the situation either. She will only let them investigate if they give her Pochitan (which she thinks is a plushie pouch), which, naturally, they refuse to do. (It would have made for some interesting humor if she had taken Pochitan from them IMO). They stick around and investigate anyway unofficially. Anna almost makes another time travel booboo by recognizing facial recognition when the woman explains the special mechanism she has to protect the glass case the necklace is in (facial recognition is, of course, quite commonplace now, but wouldn't have been in 1999).

Anna also runs into Luluka while Luluka is doing her secret stakeout and Luluka says some cryptic things that Anna doesn't really understand. This meeting becomes relevant later though when Anna recognizes the strange security guard lady as the girl she met earlier.

We also get a brief bit back at the Villain Theater where the other thieves talk about Luluka's plan, which she apparently made known to them to some degree. Ageseine thinks it's "wack" and dumb, which seems to be her opinion about most things. This leads to her interfering later and turning the necklace Luluka stole into a Hanninda. (I suspect this was just an excuse to have a Hanninda in the episode for the girls to defeat, which was honestly unnecessary since the fight up to that point had been interesting enough).

So the fight on the rooftop is the big draw of this episode. Anna and Mikuru chase the "security guard" to the roof (after deducing that she would escape that way) and try to get her to give the necklace back. Luluka defends her motives, revealing that, much like the note left after the theft claimed, the necklace on display was a fake - in fact, everything in the exhibit, it turns out, was a fake, because the lady running it is too afraid of getting robbed to display the actual items, but figured if she displayed fakes no one would notice. She tries to use this to explain that sometimes lies are useful, an idea the girls obviously object to. Luluka then challenges the girls to transform and fight her, warning that if they don't, she'll use the Pre-Kit Gloss and escape into the crowd. Anna and Mikuru are shocked to learn she has a Pre-Kit item, but end up transforming anyway.

And this scene is where we finally see Luluka transform into Cure Arcana Shadow for the first time, which she does using an item called the Tear Arcana Rod that, like the girls' Jewel Cure Watch, also has a pendant form (which reminded me quite a bit of Sakura's various Keys in Cardcaptor Sakura, which all could be worn as a necklace when not in use). And wow was this transformation worth the wait. My feelings seeing it for the first time were a lot like how I felt seeing Cure Nyammy's transformation for the first time. The animation quality is just a significant step up from what we see in Cure Answer and Cure Mystique's duo transformation. (It's not as big of a gap as there was between Wonderful/Friendy's and Nyammy's IMO but it's definitely noticeable. You can watch both below and judge for yourself).

The fight that follows is pretty one-sided - it's clear that Arcana Shadow is both more experienced and more skilled than Answer and Mystique. She warns them that, as they are now, they'll never defeat the Phantom Thieves.

After this episode, Cure Arcana Shadow became CRAZY popular online, generating a ton of fan art. (I mean, I think Luluka was already kind of popular, with her ice cream addiction and all, but still). Her merch has also been pretty consistently selling out too.

Episode 12 follows up on the reveal of Cure Arcana Shadow with an episode where the girls try to find out more about her. Jett sends an info request to the London office about her, but unfortunately it's going to take a few days, because apparently the London office only sends this kind of information via snail mail (which, given the security clearance that's probably involved, is honestly fair). I expected we'd get some follow-up for this by the end of the episode, but sadly we did not.

Anna and Mikuru's search for Cure Arcana Shadow was honestly pretty funny, mostly because Mikuru decided to make a doodle again for them to show people, and her art skills are...not great. Also at one point they actually end up asking LULUKA HERSELF where to find Cure Arcana Shadow, although since Luluka is in disguise at the time they don't realize they did so 😆

Oh yeah, about that. So, Luluka is sitting on a fountain with Mushutan (sorry I keep forgetting how to spell her name), eating ice cream and minding her own business. Luluka suddenly has a Star Wars "I've got a bad feeling about this" moment, so Mushutan decides to do some fortune telling, which reveals that Luluka will be given an annoying task to do (or something like that...her fortunes are always super vague for some reason). Sure enough, Goemon soon shows up, begging for her help. (I've got to say, I kind of like the dynamic between Goemon and Luluka specifically. He's the only one of the thieves to treat her as anything close to an equal, though it's clear Luluka doesn't like him THAT much and tolerates him at best).

So Goemon found a Makoto Jewel in this misanga (basically a promise bracelet of sorts; I think it's translated here as "wish bracelet," which makes sense in context since we later learn that if it breaks naturally, it's supposed to mean your wish will come true) worn by a girl who frequents a local music shop. However, if the misanga breaks, it'll lose its associated emotions and the Makoto Jewel will be lost, and the same would be true if he just tries to take it from her like how the thieves normally steal things. (This was pretty big deal lore, actually, as the idea that Makoto Jewels could just disappear from an item had never come up before). So he wants Luluka to help him steal the bracelet in a way that will keep the Jewel intact. Not having anything better to do, she agrees, saying he can pay her in ice cream.

Luluka's strategy is this: use the Pre-Kit Gloss to disguise herself as a shop clerk, get chummy with the girl, and snag the bracelet at the first opportunity. And this plan basically goes flawlessly. Even though the misanga does end up breaking on its own later, putting the plan in jeopardy, Luluka cleverly improvises and tells the girl that even if what she thought was true was a lie, the feelings she had were still real -- a move that insures the Makoto Jewel in the bracelet stays intact. She then excuses herself on the pretense that she has to "go back to work" and heads out the back to deliver the bracelet to Goemon.

The only flaw in this plan ends up being Anna and Mikuru showing up at the same shop. (This is where they accidentally ask Luluka how to find Arcana Shadow). It turns out that the girl with the misanga has feelings for this guy she saw at the music store - and in fact started frequenting it just to see him, but never worked up the courage to actually talk to him. Anna and Mikuru encourage her to try, and it looks like it might almost go somewhere, but then we hear a female voice say "Sorry, the train was late" and it becomes pretty obvious that the guy is, shall we say, not available. (Honestly, I kind of saw that ending coming). Anna and Mikuru feel bad about pushing the girl to talk to the guy, but she says it's ok, that she'll just find a new love. Encouraged, Anna and Mikuru decide to go back to their investigation, and Anna says "Let's just say bye to that nice lady shop clerk before we go." Just about then, one of the actual shop clerks shows up and, puzzled, says all the staff there are guys.

This obviously tips the girls off that the female shop clerk was a fraud, so they rush out, using the Mirror Loupe to track Luluka's footsteps and find her just as she's meeting up with Goemon. Luluka seems impressed by their work tracking her, but a fight still ensues. Jett and Pochitan also show up and Jett witnesses Luluka transform, surprised that she is in fact a legit Cure. He also recognizes Mushutan as a fortune telling fairy. Considering she introduces herself to Jett, this is apparently the first time they've met? Which I guess if he was based in London (or elsewhere in Japan - I assumed he came from London but now I'm not sure TBH) would make sense. Jett also recognizes Arcana Shadow's attack as the one that saved him and Pochitan back in episode 6, but when he mentions this, Arcana Shadow says he can't prove it was her who saved them (though I think she's just trolling him, because we the audience know she was present for that fight).

This is again a fight where the Hanninda is kind of secondary to Arcana Shadow, though unlike with episode 11 it has a more legit reason to be there, since Goemon was actively trying to get a Jewel from the beginning this time, unlike Ageseine who just decided to meddle with a fight that wasn't her business. Arcana Shadow again kind of toys with Answer and Mystique. Like, I don't think she's being intentionally malicious, but she does kind of taunt them and show off how much better of a fighter she is. Though whether she's actually toying with them or if she's trying to subtly push them to get better is still unclear at this point.

One important thing to come out of this fight is that Arcana Shadow properly confirms what a lot of fans have theorized from the beginning: the agency that Anna and Mikuru run used to be hers. To prove it, she explains how to open the stubborn window Anna was having trouble opening at the beginning of the episode (though we never find out how she knew Anna was having trouble with it to begin with...was she spying on them??). She acknowledges that the girls have done a good job fixing it up, but other than that refuses to elaborate further.

Anyway, the girls defeat the Hanninda, and Goemon and Arcana Shadow leave. Though later we do see Luluka and Mushutan chilling somewhere, and Mushutan gives a fortune saying the misanga girl will find a new love. Also, back at the agency, Anna tries opening the stubborn window according to Arcana Shadow's directions, and it opens without issue this time, proving that she is indeed familiar with the agency building. But why did she leave it?? That we don't know yet.

The ending of the episode goes back to the Villain Theater. The first shot is actually of Luluka enjoying a massive ice cream cone (like seriously, I think it has like 12 scoops on it 😆), so I guess Goemon did in fact pay her for her help.

Usonoir is not in the greatest mood as usual, probably because Goemon failed to get the Jewel in the end, but this time he takes things a step further - he tells the thieves they're going to actually go fight the Cures as a group. INCLUDING HIM. Usually the Big Bad doesn't leave the base to fight the Cures until the endgame of the series (or maybe mid season, like with Go Princess's Big Bad, though she comes out more in full force in the end game), so to have Usonoir coming out to play this early was pretty shocking to the fandom. Unfortunately, the actual fight is saved for the next episode, with episode 12 just ending with Usonoir saying "Let us go, Phantom Thieves Guild" all omniously.

Episode 13 picks up on this, with the last scene with the villains being recapped (which probably wasn't necessary but ok). Unfortunately, Anna and Mikuru have no idea what is awaiting them (not sure why Luluka wouldn't try to warn them or something). The one difference in the recap is that one of the other thieves tries to stall, saying Nijee should be back with a Jewel soon.

We then switch to Anna and Mikuru in the middle of yet another case. This is the first time we've come into them investigating a case with no setup, and also the first time a case has started before the opening credits. In fact, by the time the opening credits roll, they're already at the point of identifying the culprit!

I forget what the case actually was, but anyway, the point is, Nijee is the thief again here. The Hanninda battle is actually kind of rushed here compared to other episodes, but that's clearly so they can devote most of the screen time to the more dangerous fight to come.

The girls defeat the Hanninda, but before they have a chance to give the Makoto Jewel to Pochitan as usual, reality starts literally glitching out of nowhere, and the rest of the thieves (Luluka included) and Usonoir show up. The next several minutes is mostly Usonoir being petty and ranting about how the Star Detectives have stolen the Makoto Jewel from him, and that he should get it because he's destined to become King in a few months, according to some prophecy from the Tome of Mirages (which is apparently adapted from some famous Nostradamus prophecy...this isn't the first time Nostradamus has been mentioned in this show either, as it was briefly mentioned in I think episode 7. I do remember a time when Nostradamus prophecies would frequently pop up on the covers of tabloids, though I don't remember if it was in 1999. The approaching millennium I think made a lot of people nervous though in general).

Jett notices that Usonoir mentions a "Makoto JEWEL," singular, rather than "Jewels." Nijee scoffs, surprised they don't even know that. So apparently the deal is that the Makoto Jewel was once one huge jewel (like literally the size of the moon) that would appear when significant emotions manifested among humanity. According to the thieves, the Star Detectives could somehow control said jewel and move it around the world at will, and actively did so to keep it out of Usonoir's hands. Usonoir did manage to track it down once, though, but before he could steal it, one of the Star Detectives (theorized by a lot of fans to be Éclair, since in the flashback you can see the reflection of a blue butterfly in Usonoir's eyes, and blue butterflies are part of Éclair's Cure design) smashed the Makoto Jewel into pieces to keep him from getting it. And those "pieces" are the small Makoto Jewels the girls rescue from the things the thieves steal.

Having just gone back to watching Inuyasha, this reveal amused me since this is basically what happens to the Shikon Jewel, except in Inuyasha Kagome breaks it by accident trying to free it from a bird yokai who had swallowed it, and she and Inuyasha have to travel around to retrieve all the shards, while in Star Detective's case, the Jewel was shattered on purpose.

In addition to this, the thieves state that they believe that Pochitan is sending the "shards" somewhere with the intention of rebuilding the full Makoto Jewel. I do admit I had wondered why the Makoto Jewels just disappeared when the girls placed them on Pochitan's bow. In other PreCure seasons, the collectible items of the season were usually stored somewhere, like in a special case or something, unless it was something immaterial, like the Heart Flowers in Heartcatch or motivation energy in Tropical Rouge. This at least explains where they've been going (though of course since we're hearing this lore from the bad guys, I guess we should take it with a grain of salt).

The general gist is that Usonoir trusts the Tome of Mirages religiously. Mushutan reveals that it is a book written by her ancestors that tells everything that will ever happen. However, the Cures being there to stop his efforts in this era was apparently not written in the Tome. And he does not appreciate this spanner in the works of his plan.

It is this petty frustration that has led Usonoir here, basically, and he does not hold back. He goes after the Cures (and Pochitan) personally, and they are no match for him whatsoever. I think it says something that the other thieves do not join in the fight, despite what the episode title ("Star Detectives vs Thieves") would have you believe. I don't know if they are prevented from doing so or if they're just so terrified of Usonoir they don't dare interfere (Nijee definitely seems concerned once reality starts glitching, Ageseine tried to stop Usonoir from even going after the Cures to begin with, and at least one of the thieves is like "If this doesn't stop, reality is going to freaking collapse" at one point). The only reason the girls end up escaping is because Arcana Shadow steps in and blocks one of Usonoir's attacks before it hits the girls, and text pops up in the Tome (which Usonoir left with Nijee for safekeeping before he went all in pummeling the Cures) telling them to get the heck out of there (how convenient).

The villains thus start leaving. Answer and Mystique thank Arcana Shadow for saving them, but she brushes them off, and tells them she has her own stuff she has to do now and to not get in her way. Again, without elaborating.

We then go back to the agency where the girls evaluate all the lore that just got dumped on them, including the implication the thieves made that the London office might not be telling them the whole truth about what's really going on. (This also implies that the London office is some sort of HQ for the Star Detectives). They also finally give the Makoto Jewel to Pochitan, who squirrels it away as usual. Then, suddenly, in the midst of a serious conversation, Pochitan says Anna's name. Since Pochitan has essentially been reduced to a baby's level of speech knowledge, this is a major event. She then also manages to say Jett's name, to his delight. Mikuru tries to get Pochitan to say her name, but Pochitan can only manage "Miruku" (milk), which to be fair is pretty close (also, she's a baby, and has been shown drinking milk before this). They generally assume this is a sign that Pochitan is maturing and will hopefully soon be back to her old self, which she needs to be if Anna ever hopes to get back to 2027. Based on the preview, Episode 14 will build on this, since it's about Pochitan trying to learn new words. It looks like a pretty cute episode, and is probably intended to be some light fluff filler to balance out the intensity of this episode.

So, as I said, this was an interesting batch of episodes. We finally had Cure Arcana Shadow's debut and got some questions answered, but a lot of things remain a mystery. Episode 14 features yet another "Éclair candidate" (I think the student body president one?) so not sure if that'll mean anything. Also with the prophecy set to be happening in July, there's speculation about what will happen in the show at that time. Will they defeat Usonoir, but then have to fight an even bigger villain? (I've seen people theorize that maybe the London office itself will end up being a villain, but I don't think we have any evidence for that as of yet). Will he win and envelop the world in lies, and they have to travel back in time or something to stop him? We know that when Anna arrived in 1999, she didn't know about the Star Detectives, which implies they don't exist in 2027. Also when Usonoir found out one of the Cures had traveled there from the future, he seemed noticeably alarmed. Maybe it's like that ongoing arc in Series 15 of Doctor Who, where Earth seemingly had no future past a certain date, which turned out to be because of The Rani constantly turning back time so she could find Omega before the Earth got destroyed. Or like the time the Monks took over Earth in Doctor Who Series 10, where it's a weird alternate reality (actually The Rani did that too with Wish World, with the help of Conrad and Desiderium). We just don't know.