The tragedy of the past shows the high cost of failure.
What They Say:
Episode #10: “Moon”
Sailor Moon and the others have landed on the Moon to solve the mystery of the Legendary Silver Crystal. There they meet Usagi’s mother from a previous life, Queen Serenity.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ami starts bringing the science as the girls wonder how their going to get to the moon. Silly Ami, science has no place in Sailor Moon! This is a show about magic, and that’s how the girls are going to get there. Except they have to wait until the next full moon to return to the former kingdom.
Usagi gets over herself in the meantime. We get a brief glimpse of her family life once again, and yes, Luna did integrate herself into the family. Her parents still remain completely oblivious to their daughter’s life.
The fateful night comes and the girls get together to head off to the moon. They arrive to find the ruins of the old Silver Millennium kingdom. Maybe the moon dust covered ruins are hidden from the eyes of unmagical earthlings or something. Naoko Takeuchi was never concerned about real life getting in the way of her fantasy. The curious part is that they leave Artemis behind, or forgot he exists. I guess someone needed to watch the base.
Upon arriving at the old castle the girls find a stone sword imbedded in a pedestal and then proceed with their King Arthur routine to pull it out. Venus is the one who eventually jars the thing free which activates a sentient hologram of the former Queen Serenity.
What follows is a vast info dump about the final days of the Silver Millennium and the sacrifice made to seal evil away. We found out most of this information already, but we see how Princess Serenity lost her life in the conflict, and it’s very Romeo and Julliette. The reunion on the moon is brief though, and the girls must return to earth. With renewed purpose they start planning a counterattack once again.
Meanwhile, the Dark Kings have become suspicious of their master and follow her to watch her meeting with the evil force. It’s then that they overhear that they too are victims of brainwashing and that they once served as the counterparts to Prince Endymion the way the guardians did for Princess Serenity. Horrified they don’t get a chance to attack before being zapped once again back into complacency.
Once again they attack Tokyo, covering it in ice and drawing out the Guardians. This happens comically fast with absolutely no build up. It does show just how powerful the evil has grown over the month that the guardians were waiting around, but it comes out of nowhere. The rest of the girls are still regaining the memories of their past lives, but Venus already remembers. She knew that the Dark Kings were Prince Endymion’s knights once. The girls pair off to fight without even realizing that they’re taking on their past life boyfriends.
Yup, past life boyfriends. The one new addition to the story of Sailor Moon, supported by one random bit of side art from the manga with the girls paired up with their evil counterparts. It’s been a plot point that was put back into the story in later adaptations (apparently the musicals used it), and it’s a much needed bolstering to the thin motivation that existed for them as bad guys. The added reveal is going to make it harder in the final battle for the girls to do what needs to be done. Nobody wants to kill off their knight in shinning armor. Usagi is about to learn that her own knight is now under the control of evil as well, as Beryl sends Mamoru out to retrieve the crystal.
In Summary:
The past and the present are coming together, and the evil is growing by leaps and bounds. If the bad guys can already freeze half the city then the final battle can’t be far off. Usagi has grown as well, finding out the details of her past and pulling herself together to fight back. Princess Serenity’s original demise is a bit of a shock, but the real surprise is the addition to the identities of the bad guys, showing just how evil Beryl is and just how far the original animated series strayed from the source. The animation even manages to hold it together for once.
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Crunchryoll and Hulu
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.9.5, via Safari 7.0.6, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
