[DreamSword]

Act 12

You know, I really have to respect the dedication to the bit.

Despite the knowledge of just how popular Sailor Moon as a franchise is, Pretty Guardian does not stray away from being genuine about itself.

I've seen "everyone knows the story already!" as a justification thrown about to defend controversial decisions made in reboots and remakes, PGSM goes to show that you can still keep what's familiar about a story that many love and still make it all work out, both thematically and emotionally.

Namely, the idea that Sailor V(enus) is the Moon Princess, and that Darien's' past life might be more elaborate than what was first shown. And that's not even getting into everything going on with Beryl's' forces.

But that's all primarily plot stuff. The big meat of this episode is Serena managing to find time to bond with Mina, and Mina's' disposition about her duty as the Princess and a Sailor Scout. The main lesson being that all work and no play just isn't healthy, much less any sort of fulfilling way to live. Mina might be right in that Serena isn't the most immediately qualified to be a Soldier, but heart and vigor are just as important as a dedication to the mission.

And it's all pulled off pretty well, but I feel as though, with both parts now in play, I need to make one minor critique? And that is how a majority of the cast are loners. Don't get me wrong, I get the thematic idea that Serena is the heart that brings everyone together, but having every other member of the Guardians be an outcast makes certain story beats very same-y, when one of the big strengths of the original anime was just how varied each girl was in terms of social status, interests, personality, etc.

It's not a horrendous change that ruins the show for me or anything like that, but I do definitely feel that it's a bit of a step down; atleast so far. There is still time to highlight the bigger differences between the girls, what with 4/5s of the show left to go and all.

In any case, this was a nice little proper intro to Mina, and nice jump forward for the mystery of our overarcing plot. Solid stuff.