[DreamSword]

Act 36

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.