[DreamSword]

Act 44

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.