It’s hard to say I like one ‘Sailor Moon’ over another. From the live actions, and the musicals, to the manga and the anime, they are all just as quirky, wacky, and fun as the next. However, I think, despite what is a lanky art style I’m still not quite comfortable with, that I like the pacing of this series the most.
Yes, it follows the manga almost exactly, but with the small added scenes they’ve added to pad it out, the series feels just right. The characters work together better, and while Usagi is still the clutzy, sleepy, impulsive, always-getting-in-trouble Usagi, the team just accepts it as a fault to work with, unlike the previous anime where Rei wants to kill her every two seconds.
So, the senshi learn about their mission to protect the Princess. What princess? Well, Luna doesn’t know. They have to awake the five sailor senshi in order to do that, but Luna insists that maybe they should go see if the bespectacled Princess D of the Country D (I am not making that up) might be the one they need to protect. From what? Some sort of evil.
They find themselves at a party, which Usagi inexplicably transforms herself into a princess in order to get into. It’s completely needless because Ami and Rei are able to get in sans-ballgown. But it’s just Usagi being Usagi, and they sort of just let her do her own thing while they try and get to reason they are there: find the princess.
While Usagi is dancing with Tuxedo Kamen (seriously, does Mamoru just wear that tuxedo everywhere and hope he’ll end up at a party? Because I’m fairly certain he was wearing that as his day clothes in the first two episodes), Rei and Ami confront Nephrite, who is attempting to steal Princess D’s Crystal. Tuxedo Kamen runs away from Usagi twice, right before the ensuing battle, and then right after (when she saves them with a gravity defying umbrella), only to reappaer to tell Sailor Moon to use the light of the moon.
Now, as a fan, I get excited here. This was nixed in the original anime, and I’m assuming it’s because it’s a bit complicated to animate. But Sailor Moon’s new tiara is gorgeous, and it’s great to see it off a black and white page, and onto a vibrant, moving screen.
In the end, after Tuxedo Kamen runs away again, he finds Sailor Moon sleeping on a balcony (because seriously, that’s all Usagi really wants to do, even if she is at a party), and kisses her, leaving the audience to wonder just what it is between them.
Well, not really. I think most of us grew up on the original series, so we know, but I’m not going to spoil it for the newbies.
It is quirky in all the ways ‘Sailor Moon’ should be, and full of all the cheesy romance you expect. It’s really one of the most ‘Sailor Moon’-y episodes of early ‘Sailor Moon.’
