Hirogaru Sky Precure: Ep. 12-24 Thoughts

I surprised myself by getting halfway through Hirogaru Sky Precure before Star Detective starts airing, even though my original goal was to finish by July… My motivation to watch things went down again though, so I might slow down. It’s been an enjoyable season so far.

I did like how the spaced out debut times allowed Cure Sky and Cure Prism more time to develop, but it seems like Cure Butterfly’s delayed debut stunted her character. It doesn’t feel like she changed in any major way, even during her transformation episode, but maybe it was intentional since she’s meant to be an adult Cure.

I still like her character though. I love her combination of older sister meddling (pretending to snore outrageously loud so Sora and Mashiro would leave and talk to each other) and also being a mess herself (invited the kids for an outing and then had to be pressured by them to finish her assignments). Her bond with Mashiro, her 4 year younger childhood friend, has interested me from the beginning because of the role reversal of her learning from Mashiro. So it was really cute how she wanted Mashiro to be honest with Sora and cry, when Mashiro didn’t want to cry as a child because she knew it would make Ageha cry.

Her Cure form and attacks are beautiful too. Funnily enough, part of the appeal of this season to me was that there’s a blonde gal who is a pink non-leader Cure, but I ended up liking her brown hair so much that I missed it.

I think the only complaint I heard going into this season was that the villains feel underdeveloped and I have to agree with that now. The new guy seemed interesting at first since he pretends to defend the downtrodden, but really steps on them himself. Unfortunately, he ended up being another villain who is played for laughs until he suddenly and jarringly isn’t, so that’s some wasted potential. At least he brings out the scathingly protective side of Ageha.

I think my favorite episodes I’ve watched recently are the “first shoes” episode where they terrorize that poor grandma by jumping her in Cure form to the airport and the Tsubasa-Ageha duo episode. There’s something really funny about Tsubasa explicitly comparing her to his parents. Also, more girlfailure Ageha where she’s working herself to exhaustion to care for them, but neglecting herself. It’s so cute how Tsubasa naively and earnestly wants her to rely on him too, like Princess Ellee does, despite the age difference making that fundamentally difficult. I think it’s his most noble trait.

The cast is strong enough that even the more lighthearted episodes are enjoyable to me. Some character moments that stuck out to me was Mashiro buying food to smooth over Sora’s entrance into the Azure Guard and being too humble to be called a hero or ask for something from the King. Also, Tsubasa trying to look cool and avoid his doting parents.

The Skyland arc was as fun as I thought it was going to be. I thought she would be the ancient Cure at first, but I still love everything about Captain Shalala. Her elegant design, her husky voice, and her bond with Sora. I love how she has a familial fondness for Sora (telling her she’s grown and letting Sora hug and cling to her even in front of royalty), but also pushes her to be independent (gently redirecting her to depend on her friends and forge her own path instead of only following her). Also, those scenes where she lets Sora carry her… She’s really the exemplar hero who doesn’t carried away by her own idea of righteousness or pride.

I was already spoiled for who the mid-season Cure is, but the execution is still interesting so far. It’s sweet how they still want her to come back and be family again after she’s completed her destiny.

Star Detective Precure: Last Minute Thoughts

I’m trying to keep my expectations reasonable considering the reception of the 2025 season, but I can’t help but be excited for Star Detective. It’s been crazy watching the fan theories go from Cure Eclair is the androgynous Phantom Thief villain seen in the trailer (honestly, that could save her Cure design for me) to Cure Eclair and Cure Arcana Shadow are the same person because they both have slightly red eyes. I’m surprised that the Japanese side of the fandom went more tinfoil hat than us this time. As much as I don’t believe it, I do think the idea of a Cure becoming a Cure (civilian -> Cure -> Cure) would be interesting.

From what little we heard of their voices so far, Cure Arcana Shadow’s voice is more mature and gentle than I thought, while Cure Mystique is more girly.

They previewed the ending theme too. As much as I like Hirogaru Sky, I do like the silly, self-indulgent songs like this more. It’s honestly amazing how far the 3D animation has come. There wasn’t a single moment where it felt uncanny valley. Cure Arcana Shadow’s design looks even more beautiful animated. The face that launched a thousand scalper listings. Her cheeks are so round and squishy that it gives her an uncontrollable gap moe compared to her usual elegant and reserved movements. Cure Answer’s dorky expressions and giant ahoge changing like a mood ring is quickly endearing her to me too. The last frame was especially cute, I love the concept of them doing random things in their Cure forms.

Surprise Leaks⁉️

It seems like there’s still potential for Cure Eclair to be that Phantom Thief if she’s not a fairy after all. From the magazine leaks, the Phantom Thief uses “boku” as a first person pronoun, but also shapeshifts into a woman. Very interesting.

There’s also the drop of “Shadow” from Cure Arcana Shadow and her image color changing to white instead of purple during certain toy voice lines is interesting too. I’m not too bothered by the idea as long as they aren’t lazy about it.

No sign of Jett being a midseason Cure yet.

Star Detective Precure: Let’s Become Precure with Mama(?)

It’s been 5 years since I watched Precure live on air, so I completely forgot how thrilling it is (especially now that I can understand it).

Episode 1 Spoilers

Starting with the elephant in the room: Anna’s mom looks exactly like Mikuru. The OP also shows the two of them as children walking in separate directions with their mothers, with Anna holding the hand of a woman with the same hair color as Mikuru and Mikuru holding the hand of a woman with similar hair to the detective she admires. The dynamic they show in first episode becomes a lot more interesting in light of that. Anna was the push Mikuru needed through her naturally supportive and earnest personality, while Mikuru was potentially who raised her to be that way. Cute.

The opening was full of exciting details. Though unfortunately the theory of Eclair being the Phantom Thief seems dead, another interesting theory has taken its place already. There’s two girls next to each other that both share different features specific to Cure Eclair, so the emerging theory is that they’ll transform into one person. It’s a very experimental idea, especially since Cure Arcana Shadow is already pushing things by being a villain and a Precure at the same time. Honestly, the only thing I noticed off about those two at first was that only one of them is in school uniform, so I wonder about that. Maybe she is a fairy after all?

Cure Arcana Shadow already looks promising too. I love the scene where she uses magic against the duo in her Precure form, it makes her feel like a proper villain. Also, the part where she turns to face the viewer in a field of flowers while the big bad flashes by feels so classic anime. I already thought she has to have a complicated situation if her heart is recognized as worthy to be a Precure but still turns against them, but the lyric “‘It’s fate, I love you’ A small voice says” during that portion really intrigues me. Can’t wait to see where her story goes <3.

The setting feels different than usual, since it seems like the general public already knows about Precure. The cast also seems huge, with 8 characters who have non-mob designs and 5 villains. I’m looking forward to where this goes.