Precure announces Dual Shadow, a spin-off with villainesses as protagonists

Toei Animation announced this Tuesday a new TV anime for the Precure franchise. It will be titled Dual Shadow ~Precure Villain Heroines~ and will arrive in 2027 with a completely original story and characters, something unusual in the saga's spin-offs.

The idea has some bite to it. Since Higashi Setsuna, the villainess Eas from Fresh Precure! (2009), became the heroine Cure Passion, the franchise has kept a very clear tradition: villains can end up becoming heroes. This new spin-off draws directly from that idea, but puts a twist on it by placing the villainesses at the center of the plot.

A spin-off that breaks from the norm

What's interesting about Dual Shadow is that it doesn't follow the path of most previous spin-offs. Toei Animation has made it clear that the series will have an original story and characters, without relying on the cast of any of the main installments. It's a different move from what we saw with The Power of Hope: Precure Full Bloom (2023), which was a sequel to Yes! Precure 5 with the cast already grown up, or with Mahō Tsukai Precure!!: MIRAI DAYS (2025), which continued Witchy Pretty Cure!.

The main franchise is still going strong, by the way. Star Detective Precure!, the 23rd TV series in the saga, premiered on February 1 and is still airing. Crunchyroll offers it in North America, Central America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the CIS. Its film, Eiga Meitantei Precure! Fushigi na Niwa to Futari no Himitsu, opened in Japan on September 18 and debuted at number 3 at the Japanese box office, with 358,000 tickets sold and 446 million yen (about 2.82 million dollars) in its first three days.

What's left to know

Toei Animation has not given more details about Dual Shadow ~Precure Villain Heroines~. We don't know who will direct the series, which studio will handle the animation, or exactly when it will premiere within 2027. There are no character names or voice actresses either. What is clear is that the franchise keeps betting on expanding beyond its main series, and this time it wants to do it with a story built from scratch.