We are the fourth episode of the plot running thin, and it really doesn’t get any thinner this!
Queen Metalia is defeated in the first five or so minutes with the power of praying, and a lot of it. If you pray hard enough, and stand strong enough while the wind of the evil villain whips your long hair around, you too can defeat and evil monster bent on the destruction of the world. Even better, it will return the Moon Kingdom to its former glory… well, the building at least. Everyone else gets to still be dead because either Princess Serenity or Queen Serenity just didn’t pray hard enough… or something. So the Moon Kingdom is an empty gorgeous city on the moon that is sure to confuse astronomers for decades, and prompt another mission to the moon, and all of the Sailor Scouts are dead. With the power of prayer, and one massive Moon Healing Escalation, the world returns to normal, and the Sailor Scouts are all revived.
If any of you are wondering about Endymion’s four generals, Kunzite, Jedite, Nephrite, and Zoicite, wonder no more. They are still dead. So… life isn’t fair for everyone.
In any case, everything seems happy and normal again. Usagi forgets her homework, everyone goes to school, and Usagi gets to meet Mamoru for a little bit of making out in the park…
…which is ruined by a little girl falling from the sky, crashing into Usagi, and stealing the kiss from Mamoru. She claims that she is named Usagi, and our Usagi takes offence to this because apparently the name Usagi is like the Highlander and there can only be one. When Little Usagi discovers Real Usagi’s full name, she puts her at gun point and demands the Silver Millenium Crystal.
That’s it! Cue the credits because the Dark Moon Arc is about to begin!
That’s right, original anime fans! The Makaiji Arc, featuring the aliens All and An who use human energy to feed their “Tree of Life,” and the still inexplicable “Moonlight Knight” (who is later revealed to be Tuxedo Mask”) is gone. That run of episodes, created specifically so ‘Sailor Moon’-creator, Naoko Takeuchi, could create Sailor Moon R (The Dark Moon Arc) will thankfully not be recreated.
While I’ve not been terribly positive on the end of the current arc, I will say this: It doesn’t matter. Even if when I watch the show critically, I realize the final battle is just a lot of praying for ten-minute segments, it doesn’t matter because when I was a little girl it was important to me. Sailor Moon’s ability to defeat the Dark Kingdom even when she wasn’t really the strongest of the Sailor Scouts at times meant a lot to me. The fact the her friends were behind her and supported her mattered to me. I loved ‘Sailor Moon,’ and a I still do, even I get bogged down by the minutia of the first arc. But I also know what’s to come and I’m excited for it. I can’t wait to see the Dark Lady, or the Sailor Starlights. I cannot wait to the new transformation sequences of the Outer Sailor Scouts. Soon, we get to learn more about Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako, and that’s something I look forward to.
So, while I give this slow episode a low score, I think it will be the last of my low scores for quite some time. We’ll see you in February with the next episode!
