Sailor Moon Crystal

Episode 15

With a new storyline comes a new opportunity for Sailor Moon Crystal to improve on itself, and I am pleased to say that that seems to be precisely what is happening here. While that statement doesn't really hold true for the animation – especially at the end of the episode – Chibi-Usa's first real outing makes up for a lot of other problems. The most important way it does that is, despite my complaint barely a sentence ago, through the way she is drawn. Chibi-Usa, as manga readers and fans of the 1990s anime know, actually a very sad character at this point. She's a little girl all alone, scared and carrying a large burden of guilt, and the haunted look in her eyes and hunched body language do a great job of showing us that. She whispers to Mamoru that everything is her fault when he tries to comfort her, and from the moment she utters those words, we can really see that she believes them. Her actions, which consist of a lot of hiding and spying, start to look less ominous and more frightened, and when we get a glimpse of a suspiciously familiar crystal around her neck, our reaction is more to wonder if that's the reason for her fear than to immediately assume she stole it. I also find that I really prefer her new Japanese voice, provided by Misato Fukuen, to her 1990s one, which was done by Kae Araki. This is also a case where sticking close to the source material helps the show, as it makes Chibi-Usa much more sympathetic and less annoying.

Unfortunately some of the persistent problems of the first season remain, namely the animation and artistic issues. While Naoko Takeuchi's art's ephemeral qualities made it easier to forgive changing details like, for example, leg lengths or widths, that's less ignorable in the animation, and a particularly noticeable issue during transformation and battle scenes. Chins also tend to lengthen at random times, and while the movement of hair retains Takeuchi's wind-blown beauty (I have to admit I like the scene where Rei sits up in bed quickly and her hair fans out), it varies between having movement and looking like plastic-y chunks. We also remain just a tad too faithful in the adaptation of other parts not pertaining to Chibi-Usa, with the story moving headlong into the arrival of new villains Black Moon, not giving the girls (or us) any real time to get over the previous arc's conclusion. An episode to process would have been good for character development, especially since everyone had lost the power to transform after the last battle.

The bad guys of the Black Moon are, however, markedly different from the Dark Kingdom, seeking to destroy the Silver Crystal rather than claim it for themselves. This certainly makes them stand out, and all of their designs are attractive and unique without the sense that there's any character recycling going on. That they targeted Sailor Mars first – the one who could predict what they might do – speaks of some forethought on their parts, and should certainly prove a good move towards crippling the Sailor Guardians. (Or at least the ones they know about, since the opening sequence reveals a new one whom we have not seen before.)

On the whole, this episode of Sailor Moon Crystal is promising in terms of story and handling Chibi-Usa as a character. The animation and art still leave much to be desired, and the dedication to remaining faithful to the original manga, while admirable, also stops the show from being as good as it could have been. But I'm feeling generally hopeful that things will look up, especially since Chibi-Usa's body language feels like a positive shift in the artistic values. Here's hoping that she can prove a major asset to this new season.

Rating: C+

Sailor Moon Crystal is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.