Usagi’s Rolodex grows ever thicker.
When one minion falls, two shall rise up to take her place! Not too unexpected for Sailor Moon, and mostly a welcome change. Somewhat less expected is the arrival of another protagonist(?) in the wake of those minions, and just one more name to add to our already stuffed Stars cast. I am… less than thrilled about this new development, although taken as a whole these are still fun, solid episodes. Hit the jump to get acquainted.
Like two peas in a space pod.
After hanging out with our cast in entertaining if not exactly novel ways for the past few weeks, we may have finally hit on a new topic for the show to tackle: Xenophobia! And here I thought Sailor Moon had run out of ideas.
Luna gives the Star Lights a (Ya)ten out of ten! As for me, well…
I was planning to leave an annoyed bullet point at the bottom of this week’s post demanding to know whur mah Outer Guardians at, but so far Stars has been pretty good about anticipating my impatient grumbles, because Haruka and Michiru made their triumphant (albeit brief) return this week. Huzzah!
For the Moonies, “Don’t stop believing” is more than just a song you belt drunkenly at parties.
I’m sensing some definite parallels between this season and Sailor Moon S, where some aggressive-minded realists (or perhaps cynicists) take up residence in Juuban and have their methods challenged by the local idealistic sailor team. The Star Lights aren’t quite as hostile toward the Moonies as Haruka and Michiru were (yet, anyway), but they’re having similar arguments and changing in similar ways.
Show biz has got nothin’ on high school.
I’m fighting a week-long cold that’s been sitting on my chest like a fat cat before breakfast, so I hope you can forgive me for both the belated and short-ish post. These were fun episodes (Minako-centric stories usually are, these days) that helped establish our new trio, shed some light on our new villains, and forward Sailor Moon‘s ever-present coming-of-age narrative. They also featured some of the oddest attacks to date, including one that I just… boy howdy, do I just.
Do you wanna build a redemption arc?
Villains come and villains go. And sometimes villains come and friends go. And sometimes villains come and friends go and more villains come and maybe some new friends come, too, but we’re not really sure yet because it’s early in the arc?
What I’m trying to say is, it’s a week of endings and beginnings on Sailor Moon, some more surprising than others. Hit the jump to say goodbye, how-do-you-do, and the occasional “WHOA WAIT WUT.” Yep. That sounds like a new SM arc, all right.
Fairy tale retellings sure can lead to some thorny situations.
Apologies for the delay—I had a whole mess of season- and year-end posts to tackle this week, so I took some time off to keep my brain from blowing a fuse. I’ll be back to posting on Fridays again this week, and as always, if there are delays or schedule changes, I’ll be sure to let you know on Twitter.
Our season-opening arc keeps blazing forward, building to a(nother) showdown against our Big Bad, but that doesn’t mean Stars has no time for character growth. This week turns the focus to our Moon Defense Squad, integrating the outer guardians more thoroughly into the group and pushing the inner guardians into their roles as confident warriors with their own unique strengths. It’s good stuff. Er, except when it isn’t. But we’ll talk particulars below the jump.
The Three Wise Men ain’t the only ones following Stars tonight.
I’ll be off holidaying it up with the family this weekend, hence why this post is going out a day early (my Noragami post may be delayed for similar reasons). As I mentioned last week, thanks to Viz’s awkward release schedule, I’ve got a whole trio of Stars episodes to cover this time around, and h’oh man, did this season waste no time in diving right into the fracas. Hit the jump to say hi to some old friends and some even older plot points.
Now that’s how you end a season!
Viz rolled the SuperS finale and the Stars premiere into a single week, but I want to include a season retrospective like I did for R and S, so I’m going to just focus on the finale this time and knock out the first three episodes of Stars in a single post next week. It’s not ideal, but I think it’s the best way to handle things.
Our old friend Ikuhara shows up for one last spin in the director’s chair, and makes damn sure to go out on a high note. As rough as SuperS has been at times, this is a visually stunning and thematically satisfying finale, tying up loose ends and setting the stage for potential future conflict. Say what you will about this season or its series director, but the guy knows his way around a tight narrative and striking imagery, and that’s on full display here. So let’s all go out with a bang together.
Walking the fine line between SuperSincere and Alicorny.
It’s final battle week, more or less, which in Sailor Moon terms usually means things are going to happen SuperSwiftly, and these episodes do not disappoint. Villains rise and fall, characters learn when to let go and when to hang on, and the Power of Dreams! leads to a finale both heartfelt and cheesy. I’m still trying to decide how well it worked for me personally, so let’s hit those recaps and see if we can’t parse it out together.
The Josei Next Door 