It's nice to see Lita and Amy get a one-on-one episode for once.

...Even if Amy isn't exactly in her right state of mind, and doesn't seem to have the same mental fortitude as Serena.

Sure, Lita might be the main character of this one, but it was a nice change of pace all the same, and having both Amy and Motoki play the primary supporting roles made for some nice character highlighting that we don't usually see.

And really, that's what makes the whole episode work? It's very smooth, straight-forward ride where the viewer spends alot of the time in Lita's' head, which in turn makes it very clear as to why she thinks as she does and determines what course of action she decides to take.

Sure, there's small sprinklings of Serena and Raye here and there, but it's only where really necessary, and as such this marks the first episode outside of arguably the one where she's being turned into a monster that Serena really doesn't have much to do with the screen time involved. It's all Lita and the love she has for her friends.

So yeah, I rather liked this one over the previous few, and the cliffhanger definitely has me intrigued as to where the "Dark Amy" Arc is headed.

So here we are, at the most well known part of the show, arguably. Even if it is basically the Black/Wicked Lady storyline from R.

You can also see from the Dark Power transformation that the effects team really upped their game compared to the early ones, which looked fairly plastic for 2003 CGI.

Oh, yes, Dark Ami is definitely a very memorable image! Moreover, it's executed very well and stylishly. While preserving the key features of her Sailor Senshi image, plus elements of Black Swan, taking into account the ballet vibe inherent to this show.

Yeah, that was definitely the vibes I was getting when the entire thing went down.

Oh yeah, the design itself is a great one.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of our priorities in life.

I really loved the general tone and atmosphere of this episode. There's a big feeling of both loneliness and horror that permeates every aspect of the story.

Because it's not just the stuff going on with Amy specifically, despite how simple it'd be to have that be the only center point of it all. Even the monster of the week, the schism between the Dark Generals, and that cliffhanger at the end all embody these general feelings, which makes this episode really stand out.

Arguably even more than that though, I really appreciated how this episode talked about how easy it is to take your friends for granted, and it's good to check yourself every now and again.

It's the sort of harsh life lesson that many in real life realize far too late, and given how well PGSM has handled friendship tropes and the showcasing of them in action, I was rather happy to see it tackle a general consequence faced by people who assume that something so precious is simply automatic. Friendships require effort; especially if you want them to last.

The "Dark Amy" arc could've easily ended with this episode, given the climax, and while I could see some viewers being disappointed in how it's still going, I'm instead of the camp of being very interested in how exactly things are going to play out from here. Because many scenes in this episode have promised many more layers being added to the story of the show as a whole, and how that all is going to balanced has me very intrigued.

I hated this episode. In its entirety.

There, that's it. That's all there is to this review. Infact, I dare say you've wasted your time in reading this post.

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What? Still here? You for some reason want further details? Why? I'm sure everyone who isn't me will love this episode just fine, given it's an excuse to exercise a set of tropes I personally can't stand.

Because you know what this episode is at the end of the day? One of the writers writing down "Let's make Raye an idol so we can sell CDs!" and nothing else beyond that. You cannot convince me that this episode serves any sort of significant meaning.

Now, given the end of this episode, some might make the claim that it's all some elaborate way of getting Raye to trust her allies, but uh, that entire arc has already been done. Serena? They bonded over their mothers. Lita? Bonded over their shared status as outcasts. And Raye and Amy have always gotten along and trusted each other's' judgment.

You could skip this entire episode and the only two things you'd miss are Sailor Mars getting a power up and Mina just being the most unpleasant person in the entire show. I absolutely hated how not only did they up Mina's' jerkish traits in order to make Raye do something she'd never do in character, but then turned around and tried to manipulate the audience by danging sick children infront of the screen. That doesn't make me sad, it infuriates me!

Oh, and Mina has cancer I guess. After this episode though? I honestly don't care. The show would be better off without her.

Absolutely trash character writing, coming from a writer of whom I typically feel writes characters very well. Complete, total, utter disappointment and an absolute waste of my time.

Fuck this episode. Skip it.

Better, but not without some pains.

The biggest point of contention for me with this one is mainly on the villain's' side, wherein all of their actions is solely for the sake of plot.

Like last episode, it's to the point of being very out of character too. Beryl punishing Nephlite as she does is way out of line with how she's been up to now, and it makes no sense for her to go after him when Malachite has been actively acting against her for a majority of his screen time.

There's also Malachite somehow magically knowing what Zoicite is up to despite no one having even seen nor talked to Zoicite since he reawakened. What, is Moonlight Sonata Prince Darien's' theme song or something?

But the main meat of this episode I was mostly fine with. The set up is really weak and had me rolling my eyes, what with Darien's' possible departure for England and Serena getting all her old feelings back instantly, but at the very least the payoff, with Tuxedo Mask's' identity fully revealed and the scenes leading up to it were pulled off pretty smooth.

It's not an ideal episode, but atleast it shows signs of climbing out of the rut that the previous episode made.

This is not where I would've ideally put this episode in continuity.

Don't get me wrong, the episode works well enough for what it is, I just feel it would've been better served later down the line.

We not too long ago had that episode where Raye got a power-up, and as awful I felt it was, it sort of set a precedent on what was to come in future episodes. Unfortunately, that has not come to pass.

The blueprint that both it and the episode after proposed was that after Raye and Serena, Lita was next in line, and after that would come the rescue of Amy, who'd likely then get her own awakening powers unlocked. And maybe I'm just a meathead, but I was looking forward to seeing all of that play out.

But instead, no. Lita has gotten nothing, and Amy's' arc has literally stayed in the same spot for multiple episodes now. I get that Serena is the main character and all, but one thing I really loved about the first two seasons of the original Sailor Moon anime was the nearly equal amount of focus that all of the girls got. Every character had their time to shine.

But now, with the reveal that Serena's' past life is Princess Serenity, it unfortunately gives the idea that every other character that's not Serena or Darien is somewhat of an afterthought. Again, the episode, for what it is, is done well. The melodramatic love triangle finally comes to its head(or atleast, I think it does), and Darien and Serena awaken their past memories, which also seems to signal Venus being a part of the team from now on.

It just causes some concern for the future. But hopefully my own past memories will awaken as we go, and I can look upon episodes like these fondly in hindsight.

Well I got my wish for Lita to get a power-up, though not in the way I wanted.

This episode, on top of introducing a new toy for merchandising purposes, is also very much plot focused.

It's mostly in furthering the mystery of what exactly happened during the period of everyone's' past lives, but also breaks up Darien and Hina(his fiance), despite him still leaving the country on a journey of self-discovery.

And for what the episode is, I think it all works out pretty well. I did like how, in terms of the Scouts, we had a new one-on-one with Lita and Serena this time around, with Lita's' viewpoint about not leaving things unsaid. Unfortunately, thanks to Nephlite, Serena never gets her chance, which is quite sad.

While the villain's' side of things were pretty brief, I was definitely intrigued about how exactly they all related to the Moon Kingdom in this version. Especially the implication that Malachite is the one who killed the other three generals in the past. And given Beryl's' attempts to suppress past memories in a prior episode with Zoicite, there's definitely some hidden meaning there.

It's overall an episode that serves as a transition point for the story being told, and as that, it works.

I can see why Dark Mercury might be the big takeaway for many viewers.

But for me, one of the few things I can remember from when I first watched this show over a decade ago was this, and it might be my personal big takeaway.

That the show decided to combine Luna and Rini into one character was probably the biggest "W-T-F" reaction that the show got out of me back when I first watched it, and I still have trouble processing it even now.

And while, on paper, Sailor Luna's' role in this episode might seem minor, as she barely even contributes to the fight at the end, I'd argue that introducing her here is immensely important, especially given the end of the Dark Amy arc is finally on the horizon.

She's here to provide some much needed comic relief not only in terms of the last string of episodes that we've had, which have been rather heavy on the drama, but also to soften the viewer up for the immense climax of the episode, wherein Amy strikes down Serena before Amy is able to fully come back to her senses. For people all-in on this show, that's some heavy stuff.

And not to be a stick in the mud, but for me, who's been struggling to remember things all this time just like Darien has been, my mind is somewhat preoccupied on if I actually remember where this goes or if I'm just making things up in my head. Essentially, how this arc ends is going to determine how I overall feel about both it and all of the Serena stuff that's interrupted it thus far.

Will jumping back and forth between two arcs that should by all accounts be separate be worth it in the end? I suppose only next episode will tell.

In terms of plot, you can tell Kobayashi wrote herself into a bit of a corner.

Main in terms of how, in order for the heroes to actually be able to win, she had to change the rules of how teleporting worked.

But despite that hiccup, this was an overall really strong finish to what I consider the second act of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon as a whole. And almost made up for the small stumbles I felt it had entirely.

The episode is all about addressing the divide that's happened between the girls over these past handful of episodes, and more importantly, Amy's' feelings on both that, as well as her own guilt over what she'd done when under Malachite's' control. And true to her character, she's rather hard on herself over it.

There's alot of nice visual symbolism that goes along with this story too, such as the four girls literally breaching a divide in the episode's' climax, resulting in them getting a team attack to beat the monster of the week with. And, more on the more subtle side, there's Amy and Serena wearing eachother's' colors, symbolizing them reinforcing their bond.

That all said, I think the thing I appreciated most was the ultimate lesson when it came this episode, which is one that the show has said before, but it's emphasized here: Friendships take effort. Sure, there are going to stumbles along the way, and everyone can't be together and on the same page 100% of the time, but so long as everyone is willing to put in just the smallest bit of understanding, true bonds will shine through, and work wonders for all involved.

PGSM absolutely stuck the landing on the end of this arc. Bravo.

There's kinda not much to say about this one.

And I very much mean that. The episode is very much just the intro to the next arc and nothing else.

There's a new girl at school. She's a manipulative jerk. There's a monster attack. Lita and Amy are training to awaken more of their powers. That's... that's honestly it when it comes to the episode.

It wasn't a bad time by any means, but outside of a brief scene of Darien in London(who knew Ibuki could speak English? I sure didn't.), it just very much was serving the purpose of getting the plot a kickstart. And it does that, so uh, good job, I guess?

A story is more than just its message.

If there's one commonality that I've seen when it comes to people who review tokusatsu, it's that they'll typically focus on the message and nothing else.

And as someone himself who's done that with specific episodes of shows he's talked about, I get it. When you see a show really speak to your personal philosophy, it's easy to feel seen and enlightened.

But if all you care about is the message, go to a seminar.

I watch TV shows primarily for entertainment. Not to get preached to, not to advertise my own personal philosophy, not to prove how smart something is.

Not to mention, I've always felt that, if the message really is the most important thing in the eyes of the viewer, shouldn't the execution also matter? People can preach how bad it is to kick puppies all they want, but if they're kicking a puppy while doing so? Kind of a bad look.

Case in point, this episode has a message that puts it ahead of its time: Showcasing the dangers of mob mentality and blind faith in someone of fame. As well as just how rabid fandom can be.

Sure enough, I really dug that aspect of it. But it came at the major cost of Serena being out of character in order to not only make it work, but also continue to drag on the plot with the manipulative idol come the episode's' resolution. Yeah, Serena is empathetic and naiive, but not to the point that she'd turn a blind eye to very blatant wrongdoings.

Yeah, I liked the overall episode well enough, but plot should almost never come at the cost of characterization, and it's the sort of mistake I'm not used to seeing in Kobayashi's' works. Yet, this version of Sailor Moon has had multiple examples now, and typically for the sake of melodrama. It's the sort of thing I moreso expect from Inoue; who in alot of ways I see has Kobayashi's' opposite in terms of style.

So, yeah. It's the sort of episode wherein you need to choose which aspects you want to prioritize, and it leaves me with some mixed feelings.

My biggest issue with this episode is that I don't know what it's trying to say.

It's the episode where Lita finally gets the power up that every other Sailor Scout has gotten up to now, and at first, it seems to be set up similar to Raye, in that she needs to experience something new in order to awaken.

But then instead, the climax of the episode involves her accepting that she'll always be ultimately alone in the world, and that gives her newfound power.

Which, if you don't want that lesson to be completely depressing, you could maybe interpret it as her fully leaping into independence from her family and/or past troubles. But even then that's less of her gaining something new and moreso just reinforcing a mentality she'd already had in the past.

And yet, at the same time, the last thing she thinks about before becoming more powerful and gaining her self-actualization is Motoki, the guy she just spent the day on a date with. Which, given some dialogue earlier in the episode, got me thinking that Lita was learning to accept love from others rather than walling herself off, but no, walling herself off is apparently the correct course.

So yeah, I have no idea what was trying to be conveyed with Jupiter's' arc here. I didn't mind the journey; Her and Motoki made for good starts in this one. It's just that the ending left me very confused. But hey, I finally got my wish for Lita to be on the same page as everyone else, I guess.

Oh, and the plot with the Generals gained a small step forward, but more on that next episode, I assume.

A warning, when it comes to the subs I've been using for this thread.

I've been using the Miss Dream subs, which for the majority of this show, have been pretty solid. A typo here or there, but nothing terrible.

But uh, I don't know if they got a new translator halfway through the project or what, but ever since a few episodes the quality of these subs has been deteriorating more and more with each episode.

It was very, very noticeable and a little distracting with this episode, to the point that I seriously wonder if anyone even proofread the script. And it's a shame, because this was otherwise a pretty nice episode about resolve and how much you let the past dictate your future.

Everyone is starting to get the memories of their past lives back, and the cast is split between those who believe in following the destiny set by their previous existences and those who feel they change fate and carve their own future. Notably, Darien is one of those who takes the subversive route; following the love that Prince Darien had for Princess Serenity but not wanting the world to die.

Because it's not just the heroes who are torn up in this way; The villains are every bit as broken up about the situation too. And that made the overhanging question all the more powerful to me.

Oh, and there's a plot about Gai from Kamen Rider Ryuki treating Serena like garbage under the false promise of taking her to London to see Darien, but that's the less important part.

Cool episode all around though.

Despite being the first piece of a two-parter, I really dug this one.

Uniquely, it's not so much a one-on-one between Amy and Raye as it is them both being caught in the same situation with their parents.

And on a character building aspect, I really liked how this episode showcased the different ways the two process the wrongdoings of their parents and their ways of dealing with it all.

Not helping is that both parents involved are genuinely horrible. Amy's' mother is the sort of "soothing" passive-aggressive parent who gaslights through conflicting words and actions, while Raye's' father is much more direct and physically aggressive. And neither of them properly owe up to their mistakes.

I felt the episode really did do a great job at carrying the weight of how heavy these kinds of burdens that some children face are. There's no sudden jokes to ruin the mood, no last minute save that makes everything in the conflict suddenly resolved with no hard feelings; just sheer, raw emotion in the face of adversity. And I respect the episode for that.

It's such a shame that storytelling like this has fallen to the wayside in recent years.

Mixed feelings on this one.

On the one hand, where this episode really shines is that it gives us a one-on-one with Raye and Amy.

Just like with the previous episode, I dug how their situations mirrored one another, and with this being the second half of the story, we get the added bonus of the two bonding together directly.

But on the other hand, the way both stories end... I'm not a fan. With Raye's' father especially, who seems to just be easily forgiven and, in my eyes, no way deserves it. Atleast with Amy's' mother, we got the scene of her seeing the photos of Amy with her friends. Nothing like that with Raye's' dad.

It all just feels a bit too easily wrapped up. I get the overall themes of forgiveness and understanding, but I just can't bring myself to accept the dad's' answer of "I work alot, deal with it." That scene at the end with Raye looking at the photo of her father in solidarity just really rubbed me the wrong way. "Accept being a cog in the machine" isn't exactly a good message, I feel.

But the ending(s) aside, I did realy enjoy everything else that this episode had to offer, and I can't bring myself to be full on mad at it. It could've been way better, sure, but it has enough going for it that I wouldn't really blame anyone if they said they were fully into it.

Mina finally accepts the love between Serena and Darien.

It's a very simple and to the point concept, but it's overall executed pretty well. Especially since this is also a major plot progression episode.

While arguably Venus is the main focus, and her time with her Princess is all handled well enough, I was far more intrigued by the villains this time around, since they get a healthy amount of screen time too.

More of Beryl's' backstory and motives get revealed, and the case of how each General is handling their past lives gets a big highlight. And adding onto that, I loved the little bit of irony of Jadeite using a pair of ice daggers to fight in this one. If you know, you know.

It's a simple tale, but a well done one.

Is it weird that this episode reminded me of animated sitcoms?

Mainly in the sense that this episode starts off with one plot, only to then hard pivot into another at about the halfway point.

What starts off as an episode about Mina's' terminal illness instead becomes an episode about Beryl's' own unrequited love, and subsequently the awakening of Super Sailor Moon.

So let's start with Plot 1. Man, I can't help but think that Kobayashi didn't like Mina much, because any time there's any sort of chance of her becoming more integrated with the regular cast, the story just outright rejects the notion. It makes the opening sequence with all five of the girls together kind of a lie.

As for Plot 2, while I do like the overall idea, I can't help but feel like the execution could've been a little cleaner. For example, I still can't understand why Beryl has it out so badly for Nephlite, when Zoicite and Malachite have betrayed her multiple times over at this point. And that's not even getting into how both of these Plots could've easily been their own episodes.

It's definitely a shocking way to end off this arc. And if that's the primary vibe that was being aimed at, then yeah, sure, mission succeeded. I just can't help but feel that the characterization aspects could've been handled a little better. I want to like Venus, but the show sure doesn't want me to. I want to like Beryl more than her anime counterpart, but then they go and have her do some rather questionable things(in terms of her early characterization).

It's not a bad episode by any means, just not an optimal one. For me atleast.

It's a shame that I basically have to use this thumbnail for this episode.

Because really, that twist at the end is one of the biggest takeaways that alot of people have from PGSM. Or atleast, so I've gathered.

And certainly, it's a very strong one that most viewers probably wouldn't see coming unless they were told beforehand. But, there will be plenty of time to talk about it in later episodes.

When it comes to this episode, however, I was surprised at just how much of it was actually devoted to the Dark Kingdom. Sure, there's the bit about Serena getting possessed which leads to the cliffhanger ending, but otherwise this episode is all about elaborating more on the villain's' backstories.

So it should come to no surprise that I really dug that about this episode. Sure, the further elaboration and Darien's' relation to the Dark Generals is nice, but the real big takeaway here is Queen Beryl, who is very much reveling in her own madness at this point; Especially as she explains to Darien just what her deal is. Unrequited love makes people go crazy, it seems.

There's this air of dread that covers nearly the entire episode as a result of how it's structured, aided by the very fitting soundtrack. It's been around since the early days, but I feel like I really gotta highlight the theme of the Dark Kingdom here, because it really did do alot of heavy lifting this episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N8blrkpP7c

I am loving the direction the show has been going in with this episode. Let's see if they can keep it up.

...And the general feelings of last episode are carried pretty nicely into this one!

Which is doubly impressive to me given that this is kinda of a recap episode? I say "kind of" because of the heavy use of flashbacks.

It really is a direct continuation of the previous episode though. What with even more exposition being given on both sides of the plot. And both in ways that managed to keep me hooked.

I already talked about how much Beryl intrigued me here, but Serena manages to match the elegance of those scenes with the scenes of her just having an honest conversation with Serenity. The angles of both sequences really did manage to keep me engaged in all of the talking going on.

It all culminates in everyone sharing one goal: Preserving the planet. How exactly, though, is the question. And the ways in which both sides of the conflict go about things will definitely be interesting to see going forward.

Oh and there's also a subplot about Nephlite posing as a human. That might maybe go somewhere. I dunno.

This episode was mostly pretty great.

Mainly because for 90% of its run time, it's a complete and total gag episode. And it's actually pretty funny!

It never fully relents on that idea either. Even when a sniper shows up, which in any other show would be a serious threat, PGSM finds a way to make that into one of the few comedic enemies the show has.

The sticking point, however, is that 10% that's not played for laughs. Mainly because not only does it get in the way of the overall vibe of the episode, but it also makes (Prince) Darien look like a total idiot, with whatever his great master plan involving Serena is.

Not only is what he does arguably rather emotionally abusive to his relationship with Serena, but he also took a huge risk that could've easily gotten everyone killed. Yeah, sure, everything turned out fine by the end of the episode, but that doesn't change what he did nor did it justify the need to prove how Serena handles herself under pressure.

It's a dark mark on an otherwise very fun episode. It's easy enough for me to overlook, personally, but I could see others getting rather turnt off by it. Either way, given how the episode ends, it's looking like fun times are over for now, seeing as how we're getting set up for a Mina episode.

This episode had me really worried at first.

You all remember episode 23? The one I hated with a burning passion and I still recommend that everyone outright skip?

Well at first, this episode seemed to be a direct follow up to that one. And it kind of is, but the direction that it takes is instead very different than what I assumed it would, and that was very much appreciated.

The grand majority of the episode is about eh girls basically just all having fun together as a group in an attempt to give Mina a ray of hope in her life. And exemplifying that is how it's an actual fun thing to see play out. Not just the games themselves, but the character humor involved to.

It makes me wonder if the director just legit told the girls to have fun playing around on set, because it seemed like all of actresses were having legit fun filming this one. Add in a little sprinkling of Dark Kingdom plot and this episode made for a surprisingly good time for me, despite my initial apprehension. I even liked the little music video at the end.

Before closing this out, there is one thing I'd like to note though, since I don't remember if I did so before: It's easy to see that the monsters in this show were about the very last thing that Kobayashi was prioritizing when scripting this show, because alot of times, they really do just exist for the sake of a climax. It's very much exemplified in this episode, where a few mooks just kinda show up out of nowhere despite the episode being practically over with.

I personally think it works out for the type of show that PGSM has been proving itself to be, but I could see some being a bit disappointed in that specific aspect.

Anyway, yeah, fun episode.

This is episode felt a bit all over the place.

It's mainly due to it juggling three separate character arcs at once, and while I don't totally dislike the result, I do feel it could've used some fine tuning.

We've got Serena struggling with her powers and revealing her secret identity to Molly, Lita's' growing relationship with Motoki(and also secret identity reveal), and... some weird Nephlite x Amy hinting?

Admittedly, the last bit of that is the one given the least focus, so I don't really need to say much other than I don't really approve of the ship. When it comes to the other two though, I kinda have opposing feelings; partly due to my own personal viewers and also my lingering memories of years ago.

When it comes to Serena, her bit actually got me excited, because if memory serves me right, I actually really liked where this particular bit with Molly ends up going later on in the show. Meanwhile, with Lita, I ended up with some mixed feelings. On one hand, her relationship with Motoki is kind of a given at this point, but on the other, I'm not liking the phrasing or emphasis put on it.

I get it, the show is from the early 2000s and has a big emphasis on romance. But I just don't like the implication that any woman(or anyone for that matter) absolutely must be in a romantic relationship to achieve happiness, and that it's inherently better than being single. To give the show some credit, it hasn't forced Amy or Raye into any sort of relationship as of yet, but the angle being pushed for Lita still kinda rubs me the wrong way.

But if nothing else, I do still like Lita and Motoki as characters, so I'm willing to just kinda roll with it, despite my grievances.

Apologies for the brief hiatus! Life got unexpectedly busy recently. But now we should be back to our normal schedule of daily updates.


This episode felt really long.

At first, I was thinking it might be because I've been away for a week, but the more I looked back on it, I think it's due to this episode's' structure in itself.

Because there's alot that happens, and yet at the same time not. There's many a scene regarding the character arcs of Beryl, Darien, Serena, and the Four Generals, but all of them only move forward by like, a single step.

Which is not only surprising given how late we are into the show now, but I also just didn't find much of it all too engaging? I probably would've been more into it had the episode focused on only one or two of these aspects, rather than juggling everything all at once.

So color me surprised when the very end of the episode hit, and I was surprisingly into the stuff being shown. Serenity isn't evil, she isn't some berserk monster, she's just incredibly hyper focused. The scene of her healing Amy, as well as the landscape around them spoke volumes. And the conversation that Serenity has with Serena shows that Serenity is capable of empathy.

It's just such a shame that a sequence that I was super into had to be proceeded by what felt like the longest episode in the show so far, despite the length itself not actually being any different from the norm. But hey, on a more optimist viewpoint, maybe that just means this episode was used to get alot of setup out of the way, and the show is gonna start swinging rather hard in the episodes leading up to endgame.

Everyone is looking out for Serena in their own way.

The other Scouts decide that the best course of action is to take the fight to the Dark Kingdom directly, while Darien takes the opposite approach.

And thus, while the Sailors are busy monster busting, a good majority of this episode is about Darien and Serena's' last moments together, and just how deep Darien's' love runs.

It's a very touching subject matter; showcasing how Darien is willing to both literally and figuratively dedicate his life to the woman he loves. I don't think it's perfect, as Darien's' advice on emotional regulation isn't exactly the best, but the heart of the matter is pulled off nicely.

And well, some drama with Sailor Venus aside, that's all the episode focuses on, and really, I feel it's much stronger for it, which is a bit of a stark contrast to the previous episode. I wouldn't call this my favorite episode in the entire show or anything, but if this really is the send off for Darien, then I think it was pulled off in a pretty good way.

The existential question about reincarnation has been a prevalent theme.

And this episode is mainly dedicated to tackling it alot more directly. What if you knew who you were in a past life? How would it shape you and your world view?

Would you embrace it? Would you toss it aside? Every character in the cast has to deal with the knowledge of how their distant past is affecting their present reality, and it's caused a schism amongst every group involved.

It's a surprisingly deep question for a show aimed at younger viewers, and even more impressive is how, at least so far, the show itself never takes a direct side, and instead works to validate both angles. There are reasons both for and against each philosophy.

Those who allow their past lives to take hold of them tend to do so out of a sense of giving their current lives meaning. While those who wish to escape themselves tend to not want to shackled down by something that technically has nothing to do with them. The former group feels an obligation to the world, while the latter feels desire for independence.

I really did dig all of the character drama that came with this one. And, surprisingly enough to me, this was one of the few episodes that I actually remembered a good majority of, so I guess it left alot more of an impression on the younger me than I could've ever guessed. But then, given it has probably my favorite scene in the entire show, perhaps I should've cued in the moment that said scene began to play.


This brief scene where Serena visits Molly in the hospital does so much.

Very quickly, on the surface level, it shows that Serena really does still care for Molly despite the hardships the two have faced.

But in the grand context of the story of the whole, it also does alot in showing just how much grimmer the stakes of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon are in comparison to its 90s anime counterpart.

Unlike with most tokusatsu shows aimed at younger audiences, Molly didn't just "pop back" as if everything was fine after the monster attacked her. She's stuck in a coma, possibly forever, and all Serena can do is be present. The monsters aren't some invisible force people forget about; They have real consequences.

It's always impressive to me when a scene manages to say much, via so little.