Star Detective Precure! is celebrating Halloween with a piece of anime history. The series' 39th episode is a collaboration with Ojamajo Doremi, the beloved magical girl classic — and the crossover works because of when the Precure story takes place.
Toei Animation announced the collaboration for Episode 39, which airs in Japan on Sunday, October 25 under the title Ojamajo na Halloween♪. The twist is that the team-up happens inside the fiction: Star Detective Precure! is set in 1999, the very year Ojamajo Doremi premiered on Japanese television, so within the story Doremi is simply a hugely popular anime that the characters themselves watch.
That setup drives the episode's plot. Anna Akechi proposes the shopping district's first-ever Halloween event, and she and her fellow CUREtto Detective Agency members — Mikuru Kobayashi, Kurea Howa and Luluka Moria — dress up as witch apprentices in homage to the show. The festivities turn into a case when the Phantom Guild's Agesene, disguised as a witch, steals a young girl named Hinano's broom, which secretly contains a Makoto Jewel. With Hinano separated from her mother and a thief who changes disguises mid-escape, the detectives deduce the switch — and change costumes themselves to avoid being recognized.
To mark the collaboration, character designer Yoshihiko Umakoshi has drawn a special visual pairing Cure Answer with Doremi herself. Umakoshi is the natural bridge between the two series: he created the original character concepts for Ojamajo Doremi before going on to design Heartcatch Precure! in 2010. The project also pairs the producers of both generations, with Star Detective Precure! producer Soya Aramaki working alongside Hiromi Seki, who produced Ojamajo Doremi.
The episode continues a crossover streak for the season, which has already teamed up with Detective Conan — another 1990s-born institution, and a fitting partner for a detective-themed Precure. Few partners could suit this one better: Ojamajo Doremi remains one of the most warmly regarded magical girl series ever made, and its witch apprentices are close to the exact age of the audience Star Detective Precure! now plays to.
What is Star Detective Precure! about?
The series follows Anna Akechi, a 14-year-old from 2027 who is guided by the fairy Pochitan and time-slips back to Makoto Mirai City in 1999. There she joins the CUREtto Detective Agency alongside Mikuru Kobayashi, an earnest girl determined to become a great detective, transforming as Cure Answer to solve cases and recover treasures stolen by the Phantom Guild — all while searching for a way back to her own time. Ojamajo Doremi, created by Izumi Todo, ran for four seasons from February 1999 to January 2003 and follows a group of elementary school girls training as witch apprentices.
Star Detective Precure! streams internationally on Crunchyroll, where Episode 39 will land following its Japanese broadcast.
Source: Toei Animation, official X account
