Star Detective Precure!

On the eve of her 14th birthday, Anna Akechi receives a magical pendant that promptly yeets her back in time from 2027 to 1999. Not exactly the present she was hoping for. Stranded in a version of her hometown that's nearly three decades younger, she meets Mikuru Kobayashi, a girl her age with big dreams of becoming a great detective. The two hit it off just in time for things to go sideways: a group called the Phantom Thieves' Guild is pulling off impossible heists across town, stealing people's most treasured possessions. To fight back and hopefully find Anna a way home, the pair transform into Cure Answer and Cure Mystique, the Star Detective Precure. This TV series from Toei Animation does something genuinely fresh with the Precure formula by weaving in actual mystery-solving and time-travel stakes. Each episode has the girls piecing together clues alongside the action sequences, so it scratches that Detective Conan itch while still delivering the transformation sequences and fairy companion energy you'd expect from the franchise. The late '90s setting gives the whole thing a warm, slightly retro vibe: think flip phones, CRT televisions, and a world before smartphones could solve half your problems. If you liked the heart of DokiDoki Precure but wished it had more whodunit energy, or if Sailor Moon crossed with a detective procedural sounds like your kind of thing, this one's worth your time.