“Could you hold on a minute before you continue?”
CONTENT WARNING: Spoilers.
I’m sorry for having to include spoiler warnings so many times as of late when it comes to this series, but somehow whatever I want to focus on the most when it comes to episodes as of late also just happens to be something that I believe would be best classified as spoilers.
Anyway, this also happened to be the most fun I’ve had watching an episode of Meitantei Precure in quite a while. Not as close to being as fun as Episode 18, but to be fair, I don’t think anything is going to end up topping Episode 18 for me due to what’s unique about Episode 18 compared to the rest of the series. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that today’s episode is good enough to be part of my top 3 favorite episodes of the series overall.
The episode begins with Anna, Mikuru, and Kurea trying (and failing) to open the Star Kiraring thing. They ask Luluka for help due to her only watching, with her turning down the offer because this isn’t something that can be forced open.
I’m calling it now, this thing won’t get opened until the literal last episode of the series and we only see the form once. I’d love to get proven wrong on that front, but that’s just what it feels like this is building up to. And if I end up getting proven right? Well, that’ll just go to show how predictable Meitantei Precure can be.
Pochitan then picks up that a Makoto Jewel is being taken away by the Phantom Thieves Guild, leading to the four heading out. They run into an art teacher, who is currently missing a mascot suit she made for a client. Our main characters split up to look for it, with Anna and Mikuru actually running into the mascot suit rather quickly.
The people in the mascot suit are actually (as per the suggestion of the title) Nijee and Usonoir, who have chosen to wear the mascot suit to carry it around. They manage to cross the street before the crossing light went out, something that Anna and Mikuru were unable to do. Usonoir and Nijee end up in a tree in a park, hiding the mascot suit in a tree. As walking around in the mascot suit now would be suspicious, they decide to leave it up in the tree, with Nijee ditching his regular phantom thief attire to look more like a regular human…though he still clearly has his special eyes and his green hair. However, Usonoir is unable to transform into a human for reasons that I’ll get into later on in this post.
They go to the place that Kurea works, with Nijee getting an iced tea for himself and a hot tea for Usonoir. I love the little tidbit of Usonoir wanting to have sugar with his tea. Little pupper.
Before the sugar gets brought out, however, Anna comes over…and somehow doesn’t connect two and two to realize that the person she’s talking to is Nijee. I’d understand if Nijee was in one of his usual disguises where he’s looking like a human someone like Anna or Mikuru would naturally run into, but I see no reason for Anna to not clock him as Nijee on the literal first sighting.
However, after Anna and Nijee’s initial conversation, Anna has a conversation with the manager, and something in that conversation finally makes the pieces click and make her realize that the person she had talked to with the two teas was Nijee.
She calls them out, and after Usonoir tries to force her to let them go only for her to refuse, we get to find out more about Usonoir. He’s a member of the Forgotten Race, which look like fairies but are unable to transform into humans like fairies can. Usonoir and Nijee then use the cover of smoke to get away, leading our main characters to need to figure out where the mascot suit is.
While at first the trail seems cold, that eventually becomes the hint to lead them to where the tree that has the mascot suit is. Cue Hanninda transformation, group transformation, Hanninda fight…okay, I will admit, seeing Usonoir pilot the Hanninda was cute. I will admit, I was a bit disappointed that the most we got of Anna’s mom in this episode was a scene that was meant to serve as flashing back to when Anna was younger, but with how the episode had played out, I was naturally eased into that disappointment.
We also learn why Usonoir wants to make a world of lies: in this world, his lies only last a moment. The usual finisher occurs, and then Usonoir makes a statement that seems to really shock Anna: the truth and lies are equal.
Usonoir and Nijee go back to their base, and it turns out there’s a new prophecy in the Tome of Mirages. Something about four lights and a girl who slipped through time or something of that nature.
…oh yeah, I almost forgot Anna was a time traveler. Thanks for the reminder, Meitantei Precure! Though I’m more interested in the prophecy that suggests Y2K.
Anyway, we go back to the CUREtto Detective Agency and see the girls talking, though Anna looks much more down compared to the others, still shaken by what Usonoir said. Pochitan then summons the Starkirathing, and that seems to be enough to make Anna cheer up.
Hopefully that’s just Anna masking her actual reaction and not how that genuinely concludes. I think there could be a serious arc there that could prompt some good discussions between parents and the target audience. Knowing my track record with this series, however, I’ll be surprised if I’m allowed even this nice thing.
I had a glimmer of hope that Meitantei Precure was actually improving.
Only for that exact same hope to be crushed when I saw we were getting yet another Kurea episode. Oh, of course we need more Kurea content! It’s not like Episode 17‘s ending only occurred because of her. Or that Episode 23 was her Cure Eclair suspect arc focus episode. Or that Episode 25 confirmed her as Cure Eclair. Hell, I’d even argue that she’s already have enough focus episodes recently with Episode 26, Episode 27, Episode 28, and Episode 29! Let’s ignore the fact that I’d argue that Mikuru still hasn’t had what I’d argue to be a truly solo focus episode! Nope, let’s build more on Kurea!
I don’t know if I’ve ever said this here, but I genuinely believe that the story the writers really want to tell is Kurea and Luluka’s story, and Anna and Mikuru were only vehicles meant to serve just long enough to get to that point, at which point it seems like they’re supposed to just stop developing, with these circumstances only happening because for one reason or another, Toei refused to let them tell Luluka and Kurea’s story as the main focus of the series.
I can basically guarantee that Episode 38 will not be convincing me about the series improving, so I have to hope Episodes 39 or 40 are enough for me to feel like the series is improving and not have that hope be immediately crushed because of the episode preview.
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Next Post: Episode 38 (“Kurea’s Answer”) hasn’t aired yet. Unless the episode gets delayed, the post will go live on October 12th, 2026 at 12 PM (PDT).
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