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Sailor Moon Crystal
Episode 8

by Gabriella Ekens,

Sailor V, the Princess of the Moon Kingdom, Silver Millennium, and rightful possessor of the Legendary Silver Crystal has finally appeared! Heralded by her own talking cat, the deceptively deep-throated Artemis, last episode concluded with Sailor V bailing the senshi out of a bad fight against Queen Beryl and completing the inner senshi entourage. However, something's still off about the situation - despite having found the Moon Princess, Usagi and Mamoru continue to experience memories from their previous lives that don't quite jive with what they've been told. Meanwhile, Sailor V is sneaking around on her own, trying to do something about the rapidly awakening evil Queen Metalia before the rest of them regain their memories… and realize something she doesn't want them to know yet. Is "Princess Serenity" doing the right thing, and are the fledgling senshi ready to challenge ultimate evil?

Sailor V - alias Minako Aino - breaks the pattern of how Usagi encounters new senshi. She's the first one to wear her warrior identity before her civilian one, and she's immediately confident and in charge rather than in need of help against some foe. The strongest parts of previous senshi introductions were watching how Usagi gets through to her isolated soon-to-be friends. The difference here is that Minako's identity is already whole - she's already gained access to and come to terms with the memories of her previous life, to the point where she's scheming around what the senshi remember at any given moment. This episode flips around the typical senshi vulnerability - she's brought into the fold when all of the girls see through her self-destructive desire to solve problems on her own and come to her aid before a dangerous fight against the most powerful shitennou, Kunzite. It turns out that she's been guiding the others this entire time, fighting evil on her own and training them through the Sailor V video game (which explains those odd but cute digressions where the game starts talking). I like how Minako didn't need to get beat up before the senshi came running to lighten her burden. The fact that Usagi has waited quite a while before going to support her gal pals has been a serious problem in the past. Unlike previous conflicts, Minako's belated entrance had enough meat to sustain 20 minutes of attention.

Even the Tuxedo Mask stuff was better! He saved Usagi again, but this time she responded with her first entirely-consensual and self-motivated kiss before running back into battle. She's grown! I'm proud of the girl, even if the journey had its low points. The next installment looks like it'll be a big one for Usagi. Let's see if this keeps up.

Artemis's introduction just makes it more confusing why Luna looks as bad as she does. Artemis consistently looks more like a cat than Luna, sometimes even while they're in the same shot. What's going on with the cats in this show? Otherwise this episode is at the expected level of visual quality - not very good - but with fewer than average shots that are bad to the point of distraction, with somewhat compelling direction during the battle scenes.

Overall, this episode is a step up, and adequately develops Sailor Moon Crystal's most compelling story thread - the one concerning Sailor V, her introduction as a role model and gradual integration into the group.

Grade: B

Sailor Moon Crystal is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.


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