[DreamSword]

Act 38

...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.

[DreamSword]

Act 39

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.

[DreamSword]

Act 40

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.

[DreamSword]

Act 41

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.

[DreamSword]

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

Act 42

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.

[DreamSword]

Act 43

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.