Sailor Moon Crystal: Season III

Episode 33

Who would have thought that Sailor Moon Crystal was capable of a genuine cliff-hanger ending? Even though a lot of us know what's coming next, the sudden start of that damned new perky ending theme (I think I dislike it more with each hearing) just when the Holy Grail begins to glow feels like a blow. It might even be worse if you know what's coming – the really good stuff is just around the corner, and we're going to have to wait a week to get it.

Not that this season has been skimping on the stronger aspects of the original story. Last week's reintroduction of Sailor Pluto was a highlight, and this week we find out why the Outer Senshi are so antagonistic to the Inner Senshi: they feel that this fight against the Death Busters is their particular jurisdiction, so the Inner Senshi barging in is like the local cops messing with an FBI investigation, assuming crime fiction hasn't led me astray on that simile. To their minds, the primary job of the first four guardians is to protect Princess Serenity; their job is to keep the whole planet safe. The fact that it took them a longer time than Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus to awaken to their pasts is the only reason (according to their logic) that the Inner Senshi have been doing so much world-saving at all, and now that they have arrived, it's time for the natural order of things to be reinstated. Of course, this is without counting on Usagi herself, and the fact that she's more than just the princess; in the present world, she's also Sailor Moon and Mamoru is more than just Endymion as well. With Chibi-Usa's Guardian powers entering the mix as well, the old-world logic that Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are applying no longer neatly fits the order of things. It is worth noting that Pluto is distinctly less wedded to the idea of keeping the others out of it. This may tie in with the fact that she met everyone in her other life as the Guardian of the Gates of Space-Time, and so has a firmer grasp of the group dynamic and power, as well as the girls' personalities. Essentially Neptune and Uranus are still living their past lives in terms of their outlook, while the other girls have an understanding that this is not the Silver Millennium, past or future, and want to fight for the present they're inhabiting.

How this will all intertwine with Chibi-Usa's friendship with Hotaru is thus far unclear, although we do know that it certainly will. This episode reveals the extent of what Hotaru's father has been doing to her body with the clear implication that this is hurting her as much as it is helping. (Incidentally, she nearly perfectly describes a migraine when she talks about how it feels like something is trying to dig out of her forehead.) Hotaru is striving to have a real, normal life, and her father's plans keep interfering with that, although it has not yet been made clear whether or not that is deliberate on his part. Usagi's father mentions that Dr. Tomoe has an unsavory reputation in the science community, and from watching this episode, we can certainly see why. (Not that his character design was making that all that secret – non-evil fictional characters don't replace their missing eyes with creepy discs like he has.) Chibi-Usa's honest friendship for Hotaru makes her uncomfortable in light of what Luna suspects about Dr. Tomoe, but she's too devoted to that friendship to let it go, which highlights that the best qualities of her parents are present within her. It is her efforts that will make the difference, not Usagi's, and that's a nice change of pace.

Of course, all of this is happening at the expense of developing the other characters, and Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako have all been reduced to their fighting strengths again. This makes it less troubling than it should be when the latest (and last) member of the Witches 5 uses her powers to make the two groups of Guardians fall prey to their annoyance and jealousy of each other and begin to fight. The scene is also rendered less impressive by the fact that making their pupils red just looks like someone took a bad photograph of the group rather than screaming “under evil mind control.” Fortunately that bit of storyline will be quickly wrapped up next week. As I said before, the episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Sailor Moon on the verge of new powers and a tantalizing glimpse of some purple boots in the preview. Don't you love that this has become a show we can look forward to?

Rating: B+

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal: Season III is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Viz.com and Hulu.