“Could you hold on a minute before you continue?”
CONTENT WARNING: Unmarked spoilers for the episode that I feel like would ruin the suspense of the episode if you read it before watching the episode. Keep reading with this in mind.
And…here we are. The episode of this “which suspect is Cure Eclair?” arc that doesn’t really feel like it needs to exist because we already had Episode 14 prove that Rei can’t see into the whole place where the Cures fight (and, uh, spoiler, but this episode literally reinforces that), but I may as well do my usual anyway.
Cure Eclair Suspect That Gets Focus In This Episode: Rei
Cure Eclair Hint(s) From This Episode (SPOILERS!)
My Stance On This Suspect Being Cure Eclair Prior To Watching The Episode: Rei cannot be Cure Eclair.
Do I Think My Stance Is Still Justifiable After The Episode? (SPOILERS!)
Disclaimer: Spoilers in the collapsible sections may get repeated unmarked later in this writeup. If you don’t want to take the risk of getting spoiled for Meitantei Precure, please stop reading this writeup here.
We see a scene that repeats the prophecy that Usonoir is acting to fulfill. He points out that he doesn’t have the Makoto Jewel yet. You know, as a reminder as to why the villains are acting in the first place! We love the Tome of Mirages, right?
Anyway, at the school, we find out that the prophecy has become the talk of the school, even if it’s not the exact words that the Tome of Mirages provides. Some things that occur in the episode that feel like they’d be treated as one of the school’s seven mysteries in any other series are being attributed to the prophecy in this episode. This includes a skeleton moving, a piano being played on its own, and a painting crying.
The headmaster hires Anna and Mikuru (and Rei, because this is a Cure Eclair suspect arc episode) to investigate what’s happening. While Anna and Mikuru miss the smaller clues because they’re more focused on the bigger things, Rei does notice that some things in each room they investigate is off.
Because of Rei’s noticing, however, the girls realize why the rooms were off from what Rei remembered, and use their PreKit Mirror Loupes to find out exactly what happened. The footprints of Goemon, Agesiene, and Nijee are found with them. The only thing is…what were they looking for that could hold a Makoto Jewel?
As it turns out, it’s something that the headmaster usually keeps close to her for the school day: the key used to open and close the gates. We actually have a pretty good game of keep away on the side of our heroes, as Pochitan absorbs the key and flies off, with Rei running off to help Pochitan.
The three Cures transform, with the Phantom Thieves running off to go after Rei and Pochitan, and Answer telling Mystique to go after Rei and Pochitan, with Answer staying to fight Arcana Shadow.
We don’t really get a read on Answer and Arcana Shadow’s fight, as this episode focuses on Rei, Pochitan, Mystique, and the thieves. With Rei noticing Pochitan getting tired, she begins hiding in areas that she thought she wouldn’t get found by the phantom thieves…only to be found in her third hiding spot which she thought was safe. Nijee was like “hand over the key”, Rei was like “nuh-uh”, and Nijee summons a storm of petals to hit Rei and Pochitan, ejecting the key. During his talk, he does say “Precure” or “Pretty Cure” in front of Rei.
Rei’s like “if only I had Cure power!”, for Mystique to come in. Nijee makes a Hanninda, causing Rei to be locked out of the fight. We see the fight go on, though for me it was rather underwhelming. Maybe it just wasn’t long enough for my tastes.
Anyway, Hanninda gets defeated, Makoto Jewel and key are returned to their proper places, and uh…oh yeah, forgot to mention it at the beginning of the episode, but Jett’s extracted the scent, and now it just needs to be put on something to smell! And that’s where we’re left prior to next week!
I had my hopes up that this episode would give us the episode title instead of doing the “who do you think Cure Eclair is?” thing, but nope! We can’t have nice things, apparently! But since Episode 25 should be the end of the “who is Cure Eclair?” sthick, we should get upcoming episode titles back in my posts starting with next week’s post.
It’s interesting to think that I started this whole arc as a “Shiruku is Cure Eclair, guys!” person, but because of Episode 23, I’ve managed to change my mind and go with “Kurea is Cure Eclair”. Personally, I think the evidence for Kurea outweighs any evidence that the others have, especially since she has a more major piece of evidence that the others either have shown to be false for them (Eriza, Rei) or we haven’t been told one way or the other what their deal is (Shiruku). If Cure Eclair is going to be anyone, it’s going to be either Kurea or Shiruku, though it’s more likely to be Kurea.
We’ll just have to wait until the next episode to see what’s in store.
Previous Post: Episode 23 – “Kurea, Sleuthing, and Ice Cream!”
Next Post: Episode 25 – “Cure Eclair’s Identity”
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