[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Admittedly, Tuxedo Mask learning who Sailor Moon is is a neat little wrinkle in the established formula.

For sure. Loved his reaction of "oh man, for real?" Upon the discovery.

[DreamSword]

Act 9

We're back to plot with this episode, as Tuxedo Mask makes a major move.

And while a good majority of the episode is about him making a bigger attempt at the Phantom Silver Crystal, I wanna take some time to talk about the villains.

Because while their scenes are brief compared to everything else in the show so far, I also find the way they're presented to be rather interesting. Especially in the atmosphere department.

With the heroes, all of their scenes tend to incorporate big swings in terms of the storytelling, whereas with the Dark Kingdom, it's been a bit of a drip feed, with tiny steps taken each episode. And yet, atleast when comparing to the 90s anime, they make quite the impact.

The biggest example is probably that Beryl is alot more forgiving in this version, while in the 90s anime she'd kill off her generals despite how useful they'd been proven to be. And it makes me wonder what changes will come about with the rest of them. We've already seen Zoicite having a design that more resembles Malachite. Will the two still be lovers here?

It's just something I found myself thinking about during the Sailor's' mission to guard a crystal that might be the real deal this time(and it's obviously not). That's not to say I wasn't into the episode at all: I found it fun for what it was, and it does provide a step towards uniting Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon themselves, but given how the character work of the show has been so far, I just found myself more intrigued by the personal stakes that the Generals and Beryl seem to have in their mission, despite being the bad guys.

Nephlite was my favorite of the Generals in the 90s anime by the way. I wonder if his relationship with Molly is still gonna be a thing or not. His design is certainly way different this time around, that's for sure.

[DreamSword]

Act 10

Look at how cool that monster design is!

With that out of the way, this episode not only focuses on creating a stronger bond between Serena and Raye, but also a major step forward in the plot.

And while I think putting this almost immediately after Raye got an episode with Lita is a bit much, I did like how down to earth the entire scenario was, with the two girls bonding over their relationships with their moms.

The plot with the victim of the week was cute too,, which help reinforce both Raye's' soft spot for estranged kids and Serena realizing how good she actually has it with her family. It made the stakes with the monster fight in the climax all the more personal too.

Speaking of the climax, this episode is also where Queen Beryl makes herself known to the Sailor Scouts, and Luna is forced to give a bit more information on who exactly the Guardians and their Princess are. And tying to that is how this version of the story purposefully leaves it ambiguous as to if the identities of the Sailors is that of reincarnation or if it's literal.

Overall, the added character development is of course nice, but I do mostly like how it seems as though our villains about to play a much bigger and more direct role from here on in. They certainly got a notable bit of increased screen time here, which made for a nice shake up. In the end, it's a nice episode. And it seems we might be getting Venus sooner rather than later.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

With that out of the way, this episode not only focuses on creating a stronger bond between Serena and Raye, but also a major step forward in the plot.

And while I think putting this almost immediately after Raye got an episode with Lita is a bit much, I did like how down to earth the entire scenario was, with the two girls bonding over their relationships with their moms.

This is actually an interesting observation, because the episode could have been completely different and about something else (well, maybe not so radically). Originally, according to the script, Rey was supposed to send Usagi home. But the actress said her character didn't do that, and the plot was rewritten.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

This is actually an interesting observation, because the episode could have been completely different and about something else (well, maybe not so radically). Originally, according to the script, Rey was supposed to send Usagi home. But the actress said her character didn't do that, and the plot was rewritten.

That IS interesting. I imagine it would've taken the episode in a totally different direction, and it makes me curious about how that would've been handled if nothing else.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

That IS interesting. I imagine it would've taken in the episode in a totally different direction, and it makes me curious about how that would've been handled if nothing else.

I understand that because the actresses were very young and without much filming experience, the director was primarily trying to make them feel natural in their roles. That's why such decisions were made.

[DreamSword]

Act 11

It's the start of our first two-parter!

And one problem I've always had when covering multi-part episodes is that I find myself not knowing what to say when talking about only one part.

I dunno, it's just always felt weird to me to judge something that isn't complete. Thus many things I can think to examine is immediately stonewalled in my own head with the idea that the next part might bring it all together.

As such, this post will be less about my impressions and opinions and moreso about the events of the episode itself. of which the core of the plot here is a bit of a deeper look into Sailor V, and more importantly, her idol/civilian identity of Mina. Who also believes herself to be the Moon Princess.

There are some interesting bits of foreshadowing here too. Namely in some characters not being who they appear to be. Hints that Mina might not actually be the Princess and that Serena shouldn't be Sailor Moon for some reason. And that's not even getting into the weird min meld that Tuxedo Mask ends up doing with Zoicite in the episode's' climax.

I will say this, there was a noticeable amount of tiny character moments that I did appreciate. Stuff like Motoki still trying to impress Serena, Darien keeping the handkerchief he got from Sailor Moon, and all the puppetry with Luna(even when she's in the background!). The episode is certainly an enjoyable one, but I dunno, I just can't feel myself going all in on it until I see how the next episode closes things off. Take that for what you will.