REVIEW: Sailor Moon Crystal 27
To say that the Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 premiere is a series overhaul would be an understatement. Given more time, more money, and some hindsight, Toei has built upon the better aspects of the first two seasons and is on the right track to fix most of the worst. Before I go into a play-by-play of the premiere, I would like to first discuss some of this season’s more general changes.
Act 27 is nearly a panel-by-panel replica of the manga’s Act 27, and I think that’s a good thing. One of my gripes about the first two seasons (which I overall enjoyed) was that when it strayed from the manga, it failed – the greatest examples being the Inner Senshi’s decreased importance and the changed fates of the Shintennou. While I like this faithful reproduction, I do not predict this to continue: this season has two more Acts than the manga arc that it is based on.
The animation is nearly flawless, an excellent modern reinterpretation of Naoko Takeuchi’s art style. The girls look younger, but this doesn’t bother me; I mean, most of them are only 14 years old at this point. The girls’ eyes and faces are rounder and more pleasant, and their face and body proportions aren’t as silly. Mamoru, Motoki, and Haruka suffer from Same Face Syndrome, but at least it’s an aesthetically pleasing face (I think this can also be blamed on Takeuchi’s tendency to focus more of her character designs on women/people presenting as women…all three have almost identical hair as well!) You can find an excellent comparison between the new and the old animation at this link.
The opening and ending themes are charming. I thought the first opening (“Moon Pride”) was one of the highlights of the first two seasons, but both of these new songs fill me with a pleasant nostalgia for 90’s shoujo anime. The closing song is particularly beautiful and reminds me a great deal of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Speaking of which, Haruka and Michiru look like they are paying homage to Utena and Anthy in that bed of roses.
Onto the episode itself, I found it a decent introduction to the arc and the new characters. In the opening scene, we get a sneak peek at Hotaru as well as this season’s villains: the Death Busters, who serve under Pharaoh 90. Hotaru is beckoned by evil forces in her sleep, with a prediction that the Outer Senshi will soon come together and cause some destruction.
After a brief period of peace and fun after the last season’s final battle, Mamoru and Rei are beginning to experience worrisome late-night omens. Usagi, who does not share their talents of premonition, dreams of her future wedding with Mamoru instead. She sleeps in and runs late for her date with Mamoru, so this really is another average day for her. At home, Chibiusa is watching the morning news with her “father” and kitten Diana, who came to 21st century Tokyo with Usagi’s brat daughter for her training as Chibi Moon.
The news anchor is pretty easygoing as he reports the terrifying, unidentified monster who wreaked havoc near Mugen Academy. So is Papa Tsukino, who casually explains the concept of reversion to Chibiusa: these monsters are thought to be humans reverted to their most primal forms. Papa Tsukino compares it to becoming a gorilla, but that giant floating cloud of death looked more supernatural than primal.
Usagi catches up to Mamoru for their date, but the sassy, sneaky, and more responsible Chibiusa crashes it before leaving to play with her new friends. After these shenanigans, Usagi goes to the arcade, where most of her friends make fun of her for her Trademark Usagi tardiness.
The beginning-middle of the episode offers helpful summaries of the situation and who the characters are: Usagi introduces Chibiusa and each of the Inner Senshi. This is exactly how the manga chapter goes, but while I understand that this may be helpful for readers who are jumping into the series at the beginning of a new arc, it is stretched out for far too long. Each of the girls are given their own Usagi-narrated intro, which begins with them saying a generic line and then awkwardly posing, followed by a pause before Usagi speaks. It is the sloppiest part of the episode. Even so, this scene does showcase their personalities, which were lacking in past episodes. For the first time in Crystal, Rei actually seems like more than a cardboard cutout version of her usual self!
Speaking of introductions, Michiru and Haruka make their grand debuts: Michiru by gracefully stepping out of a massive indoor swimming pool and Haruka by kicking ass and breaking girls’ hearts on the racetrack. The two then fly their own helicopters to high school, and show off their power couple status.
I appreciate the care given to the pair: they look at each other endearingly, and are quite obviously attached to one another. Haruka has so far been treated solely with male pronouns, and is referred to as Michiru’s boyfriend. As the manga makes Haruka’s gender even more ambiguous than the 90’s anime did (Uranus is referred to at one point in the manga as “having both the essence of a man and a woman”) I wonder how (or rather, how well) Crystal will tackle it.
Back at the arcade, Makoto shows Usagi a new, challenging racing game. Their challenger happens to be professional race car driver Haruka, who puts on a show. After Usagi crashes, she is complimented by Haruka and she immediately begins swooning.
The couples in this show (Usagi/Mamoru, Haruka/Michiru) experience some jealousy and confusion in this arc, and this episode does a good job of setting it up. Haruka absolutely charms Usagi, only for them both to see Michiru and Mamoru having a mysterious conversation shortly after. Their reactions run the full range of emotions and are well-executed. As I’ve already mentioned, this episode does a great job with characterization, but these scenes are especially exceptional for Haruka, Michiru, and Mamoru, who is probably my favorite male character in any shoujo ever and who is acting on his curiosity in a cool, cautious way.
Makoto and Minako fall head over heels for Haruka, and figure out that he and Michiru attend Mugen Academy, a school for geniuses that Rei notes Usagi could never attend. After a few minutes of fangirling, the girls are shocked by an attack. Usagi’s Silver Crystal reacts before any of them see the threat, a monster that latches onto a Mugen Academy schoolgirl and turns her into a “reversion.”
The girls transform, in public, to battle it in broad daylight. This season has disposed of the out-of-place CGI transformation sequences, to which I say good riddance. These new transformations are great, even if they did take up a SOLID THREE MINUTES of the episode. It is always disappointing when these sequences are longer than the battle, and unfortunately that was the case in this episode. I only find it excusable in this episode because it is the debut of all of the new sequences. It also helps that instead of Sailor Moon, Venus and Jupiter destroyed the monster, so their transformations were at least worth it.
Following the battle, Venus has the odd feeling that they are being watched – that is, by someone more menacing than the several innocent bystanders who just witnessed all of this. The last shot of the scene shows Haruka and Michiru, quietly walking away.
Back at HQ, the gang decide to investigate Mugen Academy and the weird reversions that are plaguing its students. Here we have the end of the episode, and the start of a wild arc. Despite its flaws, I was very impressed with this episode. I know many fans stopped watching Crystal last year, and to them I would suggest giving this season a chance. Fresh characters, fresh animation, and a refreshing level of self-awareness makes this new arc very promising.
