REVIEW: Sailor Moon Crystal 35
Rational thinking and real-world logic aren’t a requirement in the Sailor Moon universe, and the opening scene of this episode was a fine example of this: after a doctor plainly announces Chibiusa’s death before casually walking out of the room, Usagi and Mamoru easily steal her body from the hospital. Mamoru has the ability to keep her blood circulating even without her soul, and hey, I’m not a doctor so maybe that is how magical girl biology works. Anyway, Mamoru takes Chibiusa’s dead body to his bedroom and…this is just not sounding right.
While the opening was a bit odd and this episode wasn’t as moving as last week’s, this was still a solid episode with a lot of developments. The Inner and Outer Senshi have one last conflict regarding how to handle Hotaru and Kaolinite faces some tough competition when the more powerful Mistress 9 arrives. This episode is Kaolinite’s last stand and she knows it, giving Sailor Moon and the gang quite the trap to handle. The labyrinthine tricks are good and the resurrected Witches 5 actually seem useful, while seeing Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus trapped in both candlewax and their own hallucinations is a disturbing sight.
Beyond Kaolinite’s defeat, this episode has two important features: showing the internal struggle between Mistress 9 and Hotaru, and the union of the Inner and Outer Senshi. The final scenes in which the Outer Senshi quickly come to the rescue of Sailor Moon are well done, as is Usagi’s emotional embrace with Haruka. Crystal has done excellent work in presenting the evolution and ambiguity of Usagi and Haruka’s relationship. Even in Season 1 Usagi wasn’t afraid to admire the beauty of other girls, but her interactions with Haruka have been much more intense and confusing in comparison. During the first part of this season there had been much unsaid between the two – not necessarily romantically, but more of a yearning in which the two quietly felt like they supposed to be on each other’s side but couldn’t be. But once Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna broke into the labyrinth, it was apparent that this was tension over. Which is good, because Super Sailor Moon needs their help when using the Moon Chalice.
There is still some off-model animation throughout the episode, which is disappointing because last week’s episode looked so beautiful. In comparison, close-up shots are still fluid and have correct facial proportions. Also, while I appreciate the incredibly quick turnaround in subtitling and releasing new episodes, the subtitles in the past few weeks have been egregious and are getting harder to ignore. I’d be more sympathetic if other simulcast shows I’ve watched (like, say, Hulu's simulcast of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans) had this issue, but this is the first time this has happened so regularly in a simulcast show that I watch.
Quite a bit happened in this episode, but let’s now talk about the most important thing of all: the new ending sequence. At first I was annoyed that there is yet another (a third!) new ending theme, but it is even better than the last two. Mamoru takes a break from being the weak healer, psychic, and dad to be a sexy Tuxedo Mask dancing around to a catchy, disco-style song. I mean, they could have put that time and effort into the animation within the episode, but this was truly a gift after an episode that was equal parts silly and satisfying to watch.
