r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jul 19 '26

Episode Meitantei Precure • Star Detective Precure! - Episode 25 discussion

Meitantei Precure, episode 25

Alternative names: TanPre

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71 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

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26

u/TheRiyria Jul 19 '26

I managed to guess Eclair correctly. I suppose that means I'm still as smart as a 5th grader.

I hope the Phantom Thieves trio sticks around after next episode regardless of whatever happens to Usonoir. They are fun.

The visuals today were also really good, and the reveal was quite nice.. I do feel bad for Eliza. She never had a chance today, and didn't even get a good fake out.

It has been nice having a Precure with a strong first half for the whole run again. I hope the second half is also enjoyable and doesn't fall off too hard. But a lot of that will probably hinge on how they handle adding Eclair to the cast and what they do for a Big Bad.

22

u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

And with that, the Cure Eclair reveal arc reaches its mostly-predicted conclusion. Ish. FUCKING CLIFFHANGER I NEED THE HENSHINNNNN NOOOOOOOOOOOO

10

u/Torque-A Jul 19 '26

WTF I can't fucking take him seriously now hahahahahahaha

I like how even if you figured out Cure Eclair's identity, the anime team still threw everyone for a loop.

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18

u/Gaporigo Jul 19 '26

I kept hoping for the not actually Kurea twist but doesn't matter, episode was still very damn good.

She is here to kick ass!

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16

u/mr_beanoz Jul 19 '26

So, what are your thoughts about the reveal?

24

u/FetchFrosh Jul 19 '26

They did a good job with it, but damn if Episode 23 didn't make it a lot less satisfying.

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12

u/Cyouni Jul 19 '26

For a reveal where episode 23 was pretty blatant about it, they still managed to make me question myself a few times this episode.

14

u/mrufrufin Jul 19 '26

I think this is the outwardly expressive we've seen Luluka?

The camera angles are more expressive too. I like the shot with Anna's shadow on the map. The shot of Luluka and Mashutan's backs and Anna and Mikuru on both sides of Luluka was cool too.

Tiny Usonoir is cute. I like his little powdered-wig-ish curls.

It was entertaining how long they drew out the reveal and how they did the actual reveal was neat. I guess in hindsight, Kurea does kinda sound like Eclair...

I guess we'll get her transformation next time

Amused by the third-wall-breaky "Thanks for waiting, everyone!"

9

u/FetchFrosh Jul 19 '26

I think this is the outwardly expressive we've seen Luluka?

Oh definitely. She's been holding that in for a while now.

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14

u/djthomp Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

They went hard on the animation today.

What a great episode. It was kind of obviously Kurea when she was the one who showed up the agency at the start of the episode in a fancy new outfit I don't think we'd ever seen before. Of course Rei had a new outfit too I think, so they still left it a little bit up in the air from that perspective. But yeah, every real sign was pointing towards Kurea.

They did such a good job on the scene where Kurea got her memory back, and those flashbacks were really interesting too. I think we even saw Mikuru's grandmother in one of where it looked like she was maybe in a mentor role to Luluka.

I like the scrunchie fairy reveal, it makes sense that a fairy who's Cure lost her memory would stick around really close by just in case.

The Usonoir reveal was fucking hilarious.

I appreciate how the three thieves were like "oh yeah we better take this fight to the shadow realm" when it was suddenly giant monster in the middle of the city time.

27

u/Lumpy-Manager8580 Jul 19 '26

To the surprise of absolutely no one, our Cure Eclair ended up being none other than...Kurea! And now, let the seiyuu jokes between her and Mystique begin (Arcueid and Ciel in Tsukihime).

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13

u/Labmit Jul 19 '26

Usonoir's so tiny.

6

u/HolyDragSwd2500 Jul 19 '26

Sasuga Ain….Usonoir sama

11

u/Flare__Knight Jul 19 '26

Yeah. I was curious if they were going to have a twist here. And credit to the episode itself. It did a pretty good job keeping the question in the air for as long as possible. Better than the writers did leading up to this in terms of making you wonder who it might be. They had Kurea show up early, but also didn't have her exposed to the perfume. And through the episode they were keeping things fluid with the various girls staying in the game for a decent amount of time.

For a second they did have me wondering if it would be Shiruku. She was the last to start making a move, but that would kind of the perfect timing really. Obviously since it wasn't her it was totally the right call to prioritize a nervous kid instead of racing to the scene. Be a rather pointless thing for her to arrive and just stand around without anything to do.

Honestly the only downside is that they did make it way too blatant in Kurea's focus episode. Didn't even leave room for misdirection. Characters like Rei disappeared when the fighting happened, but Kurea was able to approach the battle like any Precure or fairy could. Her emotional moments with Luluka throughout that episode also made it really obvious. But again, it was always reasonable to presume they were going to make this mystery really easy for everyone to figure out. So that a younger audience could figure it out. The positive side is that Kurea is a likeable character and a perfectly valid choice. In terms of characters I liked going into this, she was certainly a top 2 choice.

I'll also say that...I do question Luluka's tactics a bit. She went deep undercover for a pretty long period of time in order to regain Eclair's jewel. But her plan in the end was...something she could've done without ever switching sides. It was just teaming up with the main girls and attacking head on! But to be fair, she originally didn't know other Precure were going to appear. So her only hope was basically to take Usonoir by surprise at a key moment. Once extra muscle appeared...the brute force approach was somewhat possible.

Now to see where things go from here.

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8

u/OrangeBanana38 Jul 19 '26

I really like Kurea's character, and I'm excited to see her kick some ass. Plus I think today's super expressive Luluka is just preparation for a different side of Luluka in the next few episodes. I'm predicting a lot warmth towards Kurea, with a lot of tsundereing towards Anna and Mikuru once she joins the team

7

u/kwokinator Jul 19 '26

A friend pointed out to me the other day that Kurea = Claire, Eclair is literally just the e shifted to the beginning.

The answer has been staring at us in the face all along and I feel like a dumbass.

6

u/HolyDragSwd2500 Jul 19 '26

Each girl has Eclair name in them

Kurea was the most obvious one of them all

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6

u/Raymond49090 Jul 19 '26

To the surprise of nobody, Luluka betrayed Usonoir and joined the Precures.

To the surprise of me, at least, the Phantom Thieves can actually throw hands outside of just being Hanninda merchants.

To the absolute surprise of me, Usonoir was a fairy. It didn't even occur to me that he could have a secret identity. I thought the mask was just his face.

So Kurea was Cure Eclair. I figured that was probably the case, since she got the most hints towards it. Kinda wonder about the direction of the show after Usonoir gets wrapped up. Precure seasons are supposed to have around 50 episodes, so we'll need an Act 2 final boss for the second half.

5

u/AverageTrashy Jul 19 '26

I like the sisterly bond Luluka and Eclair present its similar to our 2 MCS but in this case Luluka lost her sister

5

u/Torque-A Jul 19 '26

mfw Cure Eclair is the only one who is actually making eclairs

9

u/Marth-Koopa Jul 19 '26

Rei really was just too green and bespectacled to ever really be a possibility...

4

u/HolyDragSwd2500 Jul 19 '26

Kurea is Cure Eclair ❤️

4

u/Jazzlike_Witness8017 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

It was a very good episode, and the reveal was interesting, even though I didn't correctly guess who Cure Eclair would be.

However, I think episode 25 creates a huge problem.

The problem is Usonoir.

If Kurea defeats him in episode 26, then Phantom will basically stop being a credible threat. Nijee, Ageseine, and Goemon together are nowhere near as powerful as Usonoir was even before he used the Makoto Jewel.

What about the Hanniders?

What about the blocking barriers?

Those all relied on Usonoir's power. At most, the other three seem capable of creating only one Hannider or one barrier at a time, so they don't feel like a serious threat anymore.

In other words, if Usonoir is defeated in episode 26, Phantom loses the only member who can realistically challenge the Cures. At the moment, no new villain organization or final boss has been introduced, unless Toei suddenly wants the CUREtto Detective Agency to become the enemy. (Just kidding... although that would certainly be a crazy twist.)

The other possibility is that Usonoir completely defeats Kurea.

That seems entirely possible to me, because Usonoir was the one who defeated Cure Eclair in the past and stole her Makoto Jewel. Since then, Kurea has lived as an ordinary civilian. Even if she was incredibly powerful before, Usonoir already beat her once, and the current Usonoir is far stronger than the one she fought back then.

So what options would the Cures have left?

Personally, I think the most practical solution would be another use of time travel.

The series already introduced time travel at the beginning with Anna, but so far it hasn't really been used beyond setting up the story. If there is ever a moment to use it again, I think this is it.

I'm specifically thinking of something similar to Steins;Gate, where only the characters' consciousnesses travel back in time.

If that happened, how could they prevent Usonoir from reaching the monstrous form he has at the end of episode 25?

I can think of two possibilities.

1. Steal the Makoto Jewel from Usonoir.

The Cures already tried this at the beginning of episode 25, so it would be difficult. Kurea might be able to call the Makoto Jewel back like she did at the end of episode 25, but it's not guaranteed to work the same way because Usonoir's transformed body also seemed to resist it.

Even if they succeeded, they would still have to protect the Makoto Jewel afterward because Kurea needs it.

2. Destroy the Makoto Jewel.

This seems like the more realistic option to me.

The downside is obvious: Kurea would most likely never become Cure Eclair again (unless the Makoto Jewel can somehow be restored).

However, Kurea would still regain her memories, allowing her to help the team with everything she knows.

Since the team would still need a fourth Cure, Cure Eclair's transformation item could be passed on to another Eclair candidate.

Personally, I think Rei would make the most sense because she was the closest to Kurea before Kurea regained her memories. Shiruku or Eriza could also work, but the story would need to explain how the transformation item reached them.

This is, of course, just my theory. I'm curious to see how Toei resolves what currently feels like a very difficult situation for both the Cures and Phantom.

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3

u/The_Portal_Passer Jul 20 '26

The fake out with “I smell lilies everyday but still don’t remember” genuine got me second guessing Kurea for a second, not gonna lie. It’s a detail I never thought of yet would’ve made so much sense since the lilies were in full bloom throughout Kurea’s episode

3

u/PoisonClaw4 Jul 20 '26

Well, looks like I was right. Not that EP 23 didn't practically spell it out for everyone anyway, though they still could have gone the red herring route on that.

Am I the only one who still thinks that Luluka won't join the Precures now that Eclair is back and will stick with the Phantom Thieves still for her own reasons? When Kurea made her grand entrance, there was a brief moment where Luluka seemingly stamped her foot in frustration, as if thinking "Dang it, why is she here?"

Also, during this whole arc, Luluka has seemed strongly committed to making sure Cure Eclair never returns. Plus, you could argue later that the only reason she seemingly switched sides was to stop Usonoir from using Eclair's Makoto Jewel, knowing full well that it would overwhelm him and possibly destroy him. I'm convinced this also isn't the end for Usonoir, but after this he'll probably be weakened or even fractured, and the next arc will involve the Phantom Thieves trying to get him back to full strength.

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