"Let's hear it for Mira, Royal Detective!"
Mira, Royal Detective is a Disney Junior CGI-animated series inspired by Indian culture that came out March 20, 2020.
Composed of 11-minute episodes, the show follows the adventures of Mira (Leela Ladnier), a brave and resourceful girl who is appointed by Queen Shanti (Freida Pinto) as the royal detective of their kingdom Jalpur. Together with her friends Prince Neel (Kamran Lucas) and Prince Veer (Karan Brar), her pet mongooses Mikku (Kal Penn) and Chikku (Utkarsh Ambudkar), and her inventive cousin Priya (Roshni Edwards), Mira will stop at nothing in her quest for the truth.
The show is created by Elena of Avalor writer Becca Topol, and executive produced by Miles from Tomorrowland creator Sascha Paladino.
Ran for two seasons and 54 episodes, with the series finale airing on June 20, 2022.
Tropes for the series:
- Accidental Misnaming: Dimple calls Mikku and Chikku "gooses" when they're actually mongooses. Justified as she's only a little girl and probably doesn't know the different between goose and mongoose.
- All There in the Script: The recurring bandits encountered by Mira are named in the credits as Manish and Poonam.
- Amateur Sleuth: Mira is appointed to be the detective for the kingdom, and she's pretty young.
- Bait-and-Switch: In "The Case of the Chiseling Chiselers", Mikku is sneaking out of the palace with a lamp while a guard tells Mira nothing goes past him without being noticed. The guard then tells Mikku to put the lamp back where it was.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: In "The Case of the Chiseling Chiselers", Mikku scolds Chikku for playing with the sculptress' tools... when they could be playing with her clay.
- Birthday Episode:
- "Mira's Birthday Mystery" for the title character.
- "The Case of the Chiseling Chiselers" for Prince Veer’s.
- Blatant Lies:
- In "The Case of the Vanishing Vessels", Chikku mistakes his tail for a snake and tries to eat it until Mikku points out what it really is. Chikku claims he already knew it.
- In "The Case of the Secret Treasure", Prince Veer says he knew it whenever the other characters looking for the titular treasure decipher a clue he failed to.
- Blue Is Heroic: Mira's detective uniform is a dark blue and the royal family, all good people, all wear blue, with a jewel representing the kingdom being about the same color as Mira's uniform.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: In "The Case of the Secret Treasure", Mikku and Chikku's guesses about the titular treasures are gold, treats, and gold-wrapped treats.
- Captain Crash: Prince Neel has the unfortunate habit of crashing his flying bicycle into something.
- Catchphrase:
- Mira's "Chalo, chalo! Let's go!"
- Prince Neel exclaims "soggy samosas" whenever something wrong happens to him. His brother Prince Veer borrows it when his samosa gets soggy.
- In "The Case of the Secret Treasure", Neel exclaim "crispy samosas" upon being amazed at how good his great-grandmother's inventions are.
- Cheaters Never Prosper:
- In "The Case of the Dance Off Disaster", Meena sabotaged her rivals during the dance contest. Mira finds evidence.
- In "Mystery at the Jalpur Games", Dhruv adds an illegal device to his bicycle and steals the arrows from the archery contest. Mira finds out and he's disqualified.
- Contrived Coincidence: Manish and Poonam once tried to steal stuff in another kingdom just so Mira wouldn't be around to stop them. Mira turned out to have been visiting that kingdom back then and foiled their plans.
- Disappeared Dad: Prince Veer and Prince Neel's father is never seen nor mentioned.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: A non-threatening example; the mysterious artist in "The Great Art Mystery" turned out to be Deputy Oosha.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Deputy Oosha. Any time she feels the presence of Manish and Poonam, she easily sees through their disguises and arrests them.
- Fair-Play Whodunnit:
- Any episode that features Manish and Poonam would have the viewer immediately realize they're behind the mystery of the episode long before Mira finds out.
- Certain mysteries can be easily solved due to the presence or absence of a character. For example, in "The Holi Mystery", Dimple is absent during the scene where the balloons go missing, hinting she's behind their disappearance. And in "A Tiny Tune Mystery", note that Mikku and Chikku's instruments go missing after Dimple comes over.
- Free-Range Children: Mira, who is 8, is allowed to roam Jalpur with her friends with no adult supervision.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Prince Neel has invented various items, such as a flying bike, to help Mira out. In "The Case of the Secret Treasure", his great-grandmother is revealed to have been an inventor as well.
- The Good Queen: Queen Shanti, who rules her kingdom wisely and fairly.
- Here We Go Again!: Mira, Neel, and Kamala spend the whole episode "The Case of the Missing Bicycle" looking for the latter's bike, which Pinky had the whole time because she herself has a brown bike, and Kamala's was green but covered with mud, making it appear brown. By the time the case is closed, Pinky asks Mira to help find her bike.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: To follow along with the mystery theme of the show, episode titles generally follow the format "The Case/Mystery of...", "Mystery at...", or "The (noun) Mystery".
- In Medias Res: The first episode, "The Case of the Royal Scarf", opens with Mira already royal detective and her close friends with Neel, neither of which have been explained.
- It Runs in the Family: Mikku and Chikku love their food, and so do their cousins, Meeti and Preeti.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Meena's certainly a bit vain and fashion conscious, yet cares for others.
- Underneath Prince Veer's snobbish exterior, he wants to be a good prince but still has some growing up to do.
- Kid Detective: Mira is 8 years old and a Royal Detective.
- King Incognito: In "The Case of the Mysterious Girl", it's revealed that, when Princess Shivani and her father visit other kingdoms, they disguise themselves to see how the kingdoms' residents behave when they don't know they're interacting with royalty.
- Missing Mom: Mira's mom is never physically seen outside of pictures in her room, and mentions of her from her father imply she's passed away.
- Modest Royalty: Neel, who prefers inventing and mystery-solving with commoners Mira and Priya to royal activities and in "The Mystery of the New Kid", requests newcomer Sandeep drop his title completely and greet him with a high-five instead of a bow.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In "Mystery at the Cooking Contest", Veer reveals that he threw out the rice Mira and Kamala were looking for only to be told that the rice was one of Kamala's ingredients, and he truly regrets it.
- Nice Girl: Mira is one of the nicest characters on the show, doing anything she can to help others with their cases.
- No Antagonist: Some episodes are about missing stuff and don't feature anyone intentionally causing problems other than recurring bandits Manish and Poonam.
- No Indoor Voice: Dimple screams everything she says.
- Noodle Incident: The episode "Mystery Through the Front Window" opens with Mira having sprained her ankle, and how it happened is never specified.
- Not So Above It All: At the end of "The Case of the Secret Treasure", Prince Veer is initially disappointed that his great-grandmother's treasure was her workshop and the inventions and designs she left there but, upon finding an elevator, he happily says his brother should make one for his bedroom so he won't have to walk downstairs whenever he wants to go to the kitchen.
- Once per Episode:
- In every episode, Mira, Mikku, and Chikku sing "We're On the Case."
- Expect a Body Wipe to occur at least once every episode.
- Mira saying "Let's think this through" and the clues are shown through her journal, which leads to the answer to the mystery of the day.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Manish and Poonam are always wearing these in each of their appearances. They end up caught at the end.
- Real Men Wear Pink: In "Mystery at the Fashion Show", Mikku and Chikku forget to take off their white Nehru jackets when they go swimming in water which dyes their white Nehru jackets pink, and they actually create a stylish look. This later helps Mira find the white dress, which had been dyed pink.
- Rewatch Bonus: Doubling as Fair-Play Whodunnit, most of the mysteries can have their answers guessed before the end by paying attention to blink-and-you-miss details during the episode or before the mystery is announced.
- Royal Brat: Downplayed case in Prince Veer who clearly relishes in his position as crown prince and scoffs at Mira's desire to help with any case that comes her way.
- Rule of Three:
- Mira normally uncovers three major clues to the mystery before solving it.
- The episode "Mystery at the Jalpur Games" features three games and three contestants.
- Shown Their Work: The costumes and scenery are based on authentic Indian outfits and buildings and bits of true-to-life language and culture are sprinkled into the series.
- Sibling Yin-Yang:
- Prince Neel is more generous than his stuck-up brother Veer.
- Pushpa's daughters are this, too. Meena is the Lovable Alpha Bitch, while Priya is a Nice Girl.
- Stock Footage: The "We're On the Case" sequence, which alters based on Mira's base clothes for the episode and adds in other characters when necessary.
- Strictly Formula: Mira goes about her regular life, then something wrong occurs, which sparks a mystery. She proclaims, "We're on the case!", and she sets out to search for clues. When it all comes together, she uses her journal to think things through and comes to the answer, which in turn solves the mystery.
- String Theory: In "The Case of the Secret Gift-Giver", Mira uses that method on a map to figure out the next place where the titular gift giver will show up.
- Team Pet: Mikku and Chikku, Mira's pet mongooses, serve as both mascots and comic relief for the team.
- That Poor Cat: Played once in the first episode "The Case of the Royal Scarf", in the scene where Neel takes Mira for a ride in his new invention called a "Fly-Cycle". When they land, they crashed offscreen followed by the screeching cat noise.
- Tired After the Song: Mira was once in such a hurry she asked Mikku and Chikku to perform their transformation sequence faster than usual. Mikku and Chikku are tired at the end. Mira isn't.
- Title, Please!: Much like with many Disney Junior shows since late 2018, there are no title cards, yet Mira announces the episode titles.
- Title Theme Tune: "Let's hear it for Mira, Royal Detective! Mira, Mira, Mira, Mira, Mira, Mira, hey!"
- Two Shorts: Each episode has two 11 minute segments.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Mikku and Chikku are the only animals shown to talk; no one questions this, not even people who are new to or don't live in Jalpur (though a later episode features their cousins who are a similar level of anthropomorphic, we still have no explanation for why mongeese are capable of human speech). Similarly, the city's deputy is a cow who, while voiceless, clearly is at least close to human level reasoning; she is routinely greeted in a casual manner by the show's regulars and even newcomers don't find the idea of a police cow helping arrest criminals odd.
- Vague Age:
- Although it's never stated in the show itself, Mira is 8.
- Priya and Neel look like they could be 8-12, while Meena and Pinky look like they could be 16-19.
- We Will Meet Again: Manish and Poonam often say something like this once they're caught, with Mira promising she'll be ready.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Mystery Through The Front Window
pays great homage to Rear Window due to the plot centering on Mira trying to solve a case while she's in her apartment with a broken leg.
