Sailor Moon Crystal

Episode 14

There is a fine art to adaptation. On the one hand, you must capture the spirit of the original work and retain it faithfully. On the other hand, you can't be too close or you risk importing the original's flaws as well. Sadly even by its fourteenth episode, Sailor Moon Crystal has not found that all-important happy medium. This episode marks the start of what is popularly known as “Sailor Moon R,” the second major story arc in both Takeuchi's original manga and the first anime version. Like the manga, the arc starts right as the first one finishes, and you can rest assured that the fight that didn't conclude two weeks ago does finish up here...anticlimactically. While it is true that Sailor Moon as story relies a lot on the power of believing in yourself and in your friends, that works much better as still images on a page than in animated form, which really demands that something be happening to keep our eyes happy. While watching the Moon Castle be rebuilt from the strength of Usagi's prayers is beautiful, it also isn't as exciting as her final triumph over Queen Metallia should have been. That last part takes very little time, with the focus instead being on the collapse of Usagi after draining the Crystal, a supposed True Love's Kiss from Mamoru, and some very awkward scenes of Luna with her paws in the standard prayer position. (I have six cats. Their forelegs do not bend that way.) Granted, much of this would work better had the show better established the relationship between Usagi and Mamoru. We know that they are different people than they were in the past, something Usagi flat-out states after the battle. Therefore showing us their past romance does not suffice to establish their present one.

Once the battle is taken care of, there's awkwardness ahead with the end of the episode's manga-perfect introduction of Chibi-Usa. This feels like the most significant part of the episode, and it is certainly more effective than the final battle or even the revival of the other guardians, if only for the awkward fact that Mamoru is clearly seen blushing after he locks lips with a very little girl. While it could simply denote discomfort, the hand lightly touching his lips suggests otherwise. This does, in all fairness, play into the Moon Triad theme that Takeuchi employs in the series, with Queen Serenity as the (metaphorical) Crone, Usagi as the Mother, and Chibi-Usa as the Maiden, three goddess representing the different phases of female life as understood by many mythologies. That mythological connection has been and continues to be one of the stronger components of the anime, using the story of Selene and Endymion as well as Greco-Roman ideas about each of the gods in combination with scientific facts about each planet.

The animation continues to look clunky (Sailor Moon's new transformation is no better than the old) and the sheer amount of bloom used makes the screen impossibly bright at times, with Chibi-Usa's entrance being particularly blinding. The little pink-haired girl also suffers from being terribly disproportionate, with an enormous bobble head on a too-thin frame. Artemis suffers a similar deformity at times, showing remarkable inconsistency in his appearance; he's the only one to suffer from this, which is odd.

As for what's to come, Rei's vision tells us that the fight is far from over, and Chibi-Usa may be what's needed to make the show delve into Usagi and Mamoru's relationship a little bit more, given the content of the manga for this arc. I am cautiously optimistic on that front...but still sadly disappointed by this too-faithful and uninspired adaptation of one of my favorite manga.

Rating: D

Sailor Moon Crystal is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.