REVIEW: Sailor Moon Crystal 33
The subtitle for this episode should have been “Civil War,” because the transition to the next stage of the Infinity Arc is complete, and it commences with an Inner Senshi versus Outer Senshi brawl. This episode packs in more story than the last three episodes combined and does so to great effect. It also ends in a cliffhanger, a rare move for Sailor Moon that is totally worth it: the best part of this episode is how excited it makes me for next week’s episode.
The Outer Senshi have reunited and finally explain their intentions to Sailor Moon: Neptune and Uranus don’t see the Inner Senshi as enemies as much as they find them nuisances. This reunion triggers Usagi’s transformation to Princess Serenity, to whom the Outer Senshi bow to…before they tell her to get out of the way, because the Death Busters are their problem to solve. This makes Jupiter, Mars, and the others angry, and that anger is used against them later in the episode when the last of the Witches 5 uses her powers to release their darkest, inner feelings.
The cliffhanger fight scene between the Inner and Outer Senshi is great. In an episode where Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus aren’t given much character development, they are at least allowed to put up a good fight. However, the Outer Senshi show that they have much stronger powers than the other girls can handle.
Speaking of powers, last week Usagi learned that her finishing move was useless against the higher-powered Witches. She is due for an upgrade, and the final scenes showed that she is about to get a great one – with the help of the foreshadowed Holy Grail.
While Usagi faces a new transformation, Chibiusa is dealing with new troubles. She fears that she has damaged her friendship with Hotaru, who she learns is a cyborg. We get some more backstory on Hotaru, including her mother’s tragic death and her near-death experience. It is heartbreaking to see how much Hotaru is suffering: after battling constant extreme pain, a creepy father, and incredible loneliness, she watches her only friend run away from her. It is an even worse experience for a longtime fan, who knows that her suffering is far from over.
This week’s villain, Cyprine, is the final of the Witches 5, and this is a big relief for me. I actually like her ability: amplifying people’s negative feelings is much more devastating than some of the tactics the other Witches have tried. The only thing that I didn’t understand was Cyprine’s ability to split into two Witches, Cyprine and Ptilol. What is the point of it? They say that the two of them make one Witch, so if they are separated, wouldn’t they be weaker? I suppose we’ll find out next week.
Animation-wise, Toei continues to provide a consistent look and well-done fight scenes. There are reuses of stock footage, but that’s to be expected of a magical girl series. I wasn’t a big fan of the red-eye treatment given to the possessed Senshi in the final fight scene, though. I wish they had chosen to make the rage more apparent in their facial expressions instead – in fact, some of the most striking animation was when Jupiter was enraged by Neptune and Uranus’s dismissal of the Inner Senshi’s powers. As for faithfulness to the manga, I was pleasantly surprised that they explained Uranus as both male and female and tickled by the small Sailor V cameo (the manga that Usagi was reading.)
I was satisfied with this episode, and thought that it executed multiple plot lines efficiently and with a great deal of emotions. While I eagerly anticipate Sailor Moon’s new transformation, what will keep me watching for the long run is the build-up of Hotaru’s character and her ultimate fate. What will also keep me watching is my love for Sailor Moon, which this season of Crystal has successfully reaffirmed.
