Time waits for no man. Good thing Sailor Pluto is no man.
The plot is back with a vengeance this week, as we head down the home stretch of the season. Plots will be laid, times will be traveled, and fores will be shadowed! Are you Sailor Moon Ready for this?!
It’s dangerous to go alone! Here, take friends!
At first it was bothering me a bit that there were so many episodes this season where the scouts kinda got their butts kicked (last week’s Venus episode especially rankled me), but then I realized with this week’s pair that, insomuch as Sailor Moon R has an ongoing theme, it basically boils down to what Luna tells Artemis this week: “You can’t defeat the enemy alone.”
In other words, characters who try to play the lone wolf (like Chibiusa in the early going, or Artemis for much of this week’s first episode, or pretty much any of our villains) fail pretty spectacularly. It’s only when people trust, draw strength from, and rely on one another that they succeed. Look no further than the Rubeus Finale for a shining example of this, as the two Usas teamed up to win the day while Rubeus went all “party of one” and ended up as a firework. Because just in case we hadn’t already figured it out, Sailor Moon is all about the power of friendship and teamwork.
Well, friendship, teamwork, and Ami being awesome. There’s a lot of that going on, too.
Man, I’m really gonna miss that breakup subplot—said no one ever.
Juuban’s most famous power couple is back together, everyone’s health is falling apart, and Esmeraude continues to follow the Villain’s Handbook to the very letter. Admittedly not my favorite pair of episodes—while the central story of R is much stronger than that of the first season, I haven’t found a ton of R’s character episodes all that memorable, and that’s pretty much what we’re getting this week. Also, since when has Minako been Usagi 2.0? I kinda feel like they rewrote her character this week, and I’m not a fan of the changes.
But we’ll get to that in due time. First, Usagi and Mamoru need to throw some feelings at each other.
A wild Time Lord appears!
The story moves forward a bit and then settles into its next mini-aRc as new (surprisingly likeable) villains take the stage and Chibiusa’s mysterious helper at last introduces herself. Also, cake! And really, what’s not to love about that?
Everything’s comin’ up Rubeus!
While Episode 73 was pretty much just me shouting at Chibusa for 25 minutes, I kinda loved Episode 74, partly because we got us some fast-acting karma, but mostly because it did a good job of showing how much Usagi has matured since the series began—heck, it showed how much she’s matured since the end of Season 1, even. Sailor Moon’s character growth is enjoyably realistic, really: People still have their weaknesses and quirks, and they backslide from time to time, but overall these gals are growing up, and Usagi is a prime example of that.
So—who’s ready to shout at Chibusa and storm a spaceshaft with me?
Sailor Moon: Encouraging you to quit your crappy job since 1993!
No week with an Ami episode can ever be a bad week. Throw in some villain redemption and a climax revolving (literally) around a black muthafuggin hole, and we got ourselves a recipe for a good old-fashioned Sailor Moon Romp.
So let’s get right to it.
It’s a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey kind of day in the Mooniverse.
Okay, so I take back my earlier rant about how we’d have to wait 20 episodes to find out what’s going on with Chibiusa. The creative team didn’t string us along for very long at all, and we pretty much have all the gaps filled in at this point. Now all that’s left is for Usagi to take down the baddies, save the future, and rescue the Queen. Who is, um… herself. This probably won’t cause any gaping rifts in the space-time continuum. Probably.
But first: Dinosaurs?
Better late than never, no?
Delayed SM post this week, courtesy of the hectic holiday season. (Note that I announce these delays in the Chirp-o-sphere, so if you ever notice something isn’t coming out when it’s supposed to, you can check there for more info.) It was a fun week, with some subtle plot bombs and slightly varied character dynamics—all good things, really—but in the interest of getting this out before the end of the weekend (I’m typing this during the, like, three-hour window between parties and chores), I’m going to unleash my little-used superpower: EXTREME BREVITY. Prepare yourself, Kakarot!
The Josei Next Door 